


i love you

by Trashy_Cannot



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Slow Burn, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 09:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 35,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20289127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trashy_Cannot/pseuds/Trashy_Cannot
Summary: Meeting in unexpected circumstances, Beau and Jester find new companionship in each other. They face the world together.A.K.A: That was an over-dramatic summary but basically this is a Beaujester AU in which the blue gals only find each other (and the m9 is never made)





	1. travelers in a tavern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny story, this was begun in May, and while I have a plan for how the story will go...I think I'm only done with...a third of it? Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Settling herself into a seat at the _Nestled Nook, _Jester scarfed down a plain croissant, sketching a familiar symbol belonging to her deity and friend, the Traveler.

She could admit it wasn’t her best work, considering chocolate stains littered the image of a path and an archway. Jester saw a nigh-invisible hand brushing it away, before wiping her similarly stained cheek. Jester giggled to herself and shut her sketchbook, moving to stand up.

A force pushed Jester back into her chair, and a woman in blue sat down across from her.

The woman was none like anyone she’d ever seen before. Her dark skin and fine robes were interesting juxtapositions to her undercut hair pulled into a topknot. Glancing at the table, the woman’s staff rested on top of recently scattered crumbs, the staff’s wood smooth and worn. Jester’s eyes settled on the woman’s, which were blue enough to rival her own skin.

A waitress arrived at their table, her attention directed towards the newcomer.

“Ma’am, I apologize for not taking your order sooner. Would you like anything to eat?”

The stranger turned to the waitress.

“I’m good, thanks.” she spoke, winking with a smirk before the waitress turned away.

Jester stared at the interaction, a confused grimace plastered onto her face.

Turning back from the waitress and towards her new acquaintance, Jester poked at her with her chocolate-stained pen.

“Who are you?”

“Beauregard.” she paused at Jester’s inquisitive brow raise. “Long story. Just call me Beau.”

Jester nodded, looked to where Beau was looking, then asked, “Well…is there anything else you need? Because I kinda want to get to bed.”

Beau sighed.

“Not really, I just needed a bit of help for a few seconds.” Beau glanced around the inn’s clients until her gaze fell back onto Jester. “But I do need somewhere to stay tonight.”

Jester contemplated Beau’s offer, looking her up and down. She looked trustworthy enough.

“Sure! We should split the cost though, it’s only fair.”

Beau squinted at Jester’s affirmation, eyeing her for any hint of malice. Shrugging to herself, Beau stood up and gestured towards the inn’s stairs.

“’Course. Lead the way Ms…?”

“Jester. Jester Lavorre.”

Stepping into their threadbare room brought ease to Jester’s shoulders, as she dropped her personal items next to the room’s door, shrugging off her green hood and cloak.

“Could you turn around? I need to change into my pajamas.” Jester gestured, turning away from her new roommate.

“Yeah, ‘course.”

A moment of pause ensued as the ruffling of Jester’s clothes filled the silence.

“Are you…comfortable with sleeping in one bed?” Beau queried, glancing at the small frame.

Jester waved her hand and jumped onto the sheets, letting out a sigh of relief and saying, “You don’t smell stinky so I think we’re fine.”

Beau nodded to herself peeling off her hand wraps, kicking off her shoes, shrugging off her robe, and pulling her shirt over her head.

“Um, Beau?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want me to look away?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Jester, laying on her soon-to-be-shared bed, couldn’t help but stare. Beau was turned away, so all Jester could see was Beau’s back muscles, shifting and flexing as Beau continued to pull off her shirt and change into more relaxed clothes. A twinge of warmth found itself into her cheeks, and Jester quietly thanked the Traveler that Tieflings couldn’t visibly blush.

Jester took out her pen and sketchbook, mindlessly letting her hand follow the natural form that Beau’s back had. Glancing down at her paper, Jester grimaced at her shoddy job and fixed up poorly drawn lines and shades. Every detail she attempted to fix seemed to be overshadowed by other details she missed, the heat in her cheeks making it hard to focus on any one detail for too long. Jester shut her sketchbook, promising herself to finish the drawing later.

Despite her flustered state, Jester’s eyes glanced up and focused on bruises that weren’t obvious before, littering Beau’s back, arms, thighs, and knuckles. A quiet gasp left Jester’s mouth.

Beau turned around, pulling a new shirt over her abs.

“I get that a lot. Just have to do pull-ups every day.” Beau bragged, pulling her hair down.

Jester shook her head, taking Beau by the hand and pulling her onto the bed.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re beat to _shit?_ Look at all of those bruises, Beau!” Jester pulled at the hem of Beau’s shirt. “I can heal you, you know.”

Beau placed her hands on Jester’s wrists, wincing at the residual pain in her ribs, saying, “I’m good. Let’s just get some rest.”

The two lay down, with Beau blowing out the single candle in their room and Jester pulling their complimentary duvet over them both. Jester could handle cold temperatures fine, but knowing that she was rooming with a human, she would have to accommodate for her. Jester tossed and turned underneath the duvet, struggling to find a position that not only leaving room for Beau but also one that was comfortable.

Before long, heat gripped every part of Jester’s body, drawing out beads of sweat.

Jester groaned to herself and kicked off the duvet, sitting up and turning to Beau. Even with a lack of light, she could see that Beau’s eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling.

“Is it just me, or is it hot in here?” she whispered.

Beau shrugged.

“Well, I can’t sleep.” Jester sighed. “You know what? I can tell you a story I just read, it was super romantic.”

“…If I listen to your retelling of this, will you sleep?” Beau mumbled, the grip of sleep slowly leaving her own consciousness.

Jester nodded, adjusting herself to face Beau.

With a silent go-ahead from Beau, Jester rambled about an outcast warrior and an exiled princess falling in love, and even with their factions and pasts haunting them, are able to run away and be together.

The two go through trial after trial, with the warrior struggling to accept his sensitivities and let the princess in, his fear caused by often being hunted by those out for his blood. On the other hand, the princess never understood the weight of her exiled state, burying herself in activities to distract her from her unstable past and her shaky future.

The two even fell into late-night love-making, though Jester limited those details for Beau’s sake.

Despite herself, Beau grinned at every accentuated event Jester spoke about, even finding herself not physically gagging when Jester described the handsome warrior scooping the princess up and ripping off her dress in one fell swoop. Beau easily fell in love with Jester’s eagerness and, at times, painfully obvious naiveté.

By the time she was done Jester took a deep breath in and looked at Beau, whose eyes were still wide-open and trained on her general area in the dark.

“Thanks for listening, Beau.”

“No problem.” Beau covered up her previous expression with a seemingly frustrated one. “Can we go to sleep now?”

“…Yeah.”

Jester pulled the duvet back over the two of them, falling asleep.

Beau took a few more minutes to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, they're roommates.
> 
> Onto Detail Notes:  
-Yeah I had to search for the name of the Nestled Nook  
-I know it might seem weird how okay Jester is with (at this point) a stranger, but then again...this is Jester. She, upon meeting Fjord and Beau in-game, became attached to them  
-Yes, I purposely put in that classic "there was only one bed" trope because 1) Jester was at this inn by herself and 2) Because tropes are fun  
-Beau refused healing because 1) Jester's still a stranger to her 2) Magic is completely out of her realm, so she doesn't know if it's trust-worthy and 3) We all know she covers up her struggles
> 
> Okay, with that being said, I'd like to set up a few things.  
-I will be uploading a chapter every Saturday at 3 P.M. EST  
-I might take breaks to write ahead, but hopefully we don't run into that problem  
-If you'd like, I made a Beaujester playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1WlGZtfQtioPmB7o7Fl0a4  
-I also have entries from Beaujester week if you want more from me (and also some Beauyasha if you're interested)
> 
> Finally, please comment, share, kudos, all that good stuff! It really keeps me going with this kinda stuff so yeah (also don't be afraid to criticize, just be polite!) have a good rest of your day/night, and see you next week!


	2. breakfast: bacon and pastries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! With another chapter no less!
> 
> Ch.1 Summary: Jester, about to head to her room to sleep, meets Beau. The two agree to share the room's cost (and its singular bed). While Beau undresses, Jester draws her newfound friend, but scrambles to heal Beau when finding bruises across her front. Beau refuses, and the two go to bed, yet Jester is unable to sleep. Jester tells the story of the novel she read, and Beau listens. After finishing, the two fall asleep.

The next morning, the Tiefling turned from facing the wall and towards the center of her bed. She pulled a warm pillow close to her and slowly opened her eyes.

Jester’s eyes focused and when she found a woman sleeping next to her, she was surprised enough to fall off the bed and land, but not enough to wake the other woman.

_Right! That’s Beau._

She nodded to herself and dressed, quietly sneaking out and heading downstairs.

Seating herself at a table near the stairs, Jester laid out her sketchbook and writing utensils, doing a double-take when she spotted a familiar form standing next to her.

Glancing up, Jester found herself looking at the Traveler, his white teeth peeking through the shadow of his hood, obscuring the rest of his face. A gloved hand pats her on the shoulder before flipping open her sketchbook to the drawing of Beau she drew. The hand’s fingers tapped one after the other on the table and a low chuckle came from beneath the shadows of his hood.

Jester’s cheeks warmed in embarrassment, but she turned the page.

“She’s just really cool-”

The hood tilted itself in amusement, cutting Jester off.

“Order some bacon with your pastries today.” another grin peeked through. “Trust me.”

The Tiefling cocked her head and turned to call over a waitress, and when she turned back towards her friend, she found an empty seat. Jester sighed and placed an order for pastries and bacon.

While waiting, Jester erased the hasty lines she created last night and attempted to neaten them up. The low chatter of the rest of the clientele had faded, and soon enough Jester’s pencil was following the curves and sometimes harsh lines of Beau’s back muscles.

“Hey, Jester.”

She looked up and found Beau descending the stairs, shrugging her robe on and walking over to Jester’s table.

Jester felt her cheeks warm again, and she shut her sketchbook.

The monk sat across Jester, saying, “You don’t have to be-”

Beau was cut off by the waitress setting down a plate of pastries and bacon between the two of them, to the obvious surprise of Jester’s acquaintance.

“How did you know I loved bacon?” Beau asked.

“I didn’t…I’m a good guesser, I guess.” Jester answered, internally thanking her friend, and slipped her sketchbook into her bag.

“Thanks.” Beau paused and glanced at the pastries Jester shoveled down. “Do you eat anything other than pastries? Last night you were eating one, and now you’re eating one again. I’m really concerned about your health.”

“I-”

Beau waved her hand.

“You know what, I don’t really care. You can eat what you want.” Beau continued, taking a bite into her bacon.

The two ate in comfortable silence, and Jester started drawing dicks on their table. Even though Jester was drawing it half-heartedly, she couldn’t help but notice how good she was drawing them compared to her sketch of Beau’s back. It was frustrating.

A chuckle came from across the table.

“You’re pretty good. Do you draw other stuff?”

Jester looked up from her scribble.

“Yeah, I draw lots of stuff.” she joked, repeatedly raising her left brow.

“Can I see?”

“Sure!”

Jester pulled out her sketchbook and opened it to her first page, where a charcoal image of her mother was. She was careful not to smudge her intricate shading of her mother’s features.

Beau quirked a brow. “Who is _she?_”

“The Ruby of the Sea!” Jester smiled, quietly singing. “She’s the best lay ever!”

The monk looked up at her temporary roommate.

“Have you spent a lot of time with her?”

“Of course.” Jester spoke.

“How much money do you have in your pockets? I’ve heard her rates are expensive.”

Jester burst into giggling laughter, pointing at her charcoal drawing.

“I don’t pay for her, she’s my momma.”

Realization washed over Beau’s features as she closed Jester’s sketchbook.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have insinuated-”

“You’re fine, Beau.”

The monk sighed and nodded, handing Jester back her sketchbook.

“Well, thank you for letting me see a proper drawing of yours, for the rooming, and for the uh, bacon.” Beau said, shoving a couple of strips of bacon into her pocket before calling over the waitress.

She pulled out a small pouch and counted out the ten copper needed to pay for their meals.

“Beau, what are you doing?” Jester asked.

“I’m paying for our breakfast. I figured since I already paid for half of our rooming, I’d pay for this too.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I can pay for this, see?” Jester insisted, pulling out a much larger pouch and dropping it onto their table, drawing the eyes of curious patrons.

“Y’know what, I’ll just pay for my bacon, and you can pay for your pastries. It’ll be even, then.”

Jester agreed and the two paid five copper each.

When Beau gave a wink to the waitress once more, Jester leaned down to put away her sketchbook, until her eyes landed on a discarded piece of paper.

Eyeing a beautiful sketch, Jester reached and grabbed the parchment, sitting back up in time for Beau to also catch sight of what she found. Looking closer, Jester saw a drawing of a carnival tent, with bold lettering that read: _The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities. _Below it were names of acts performing, and in cursive print: _Five copper to come and see!_

Jester turned the paper around for Beau to see.

“Aren’t those scams?”

The Tiefling rolled her eyes, saying, “Can we do this one last thing before you go?”

“…Fine.”

Jester bounced in her seat, grinning at Beau, the latter of which was trying to fight a smile from drawing itself onto her lips.

.

.

.

Later, the two strolled through the town of Trostenwald, keeping close to each other.

When the carnival’s parade had ceased, and the Sun began cresting below the horizon, the two found themselves at the threshold of the carnival’s entrance.

A tall, pale woman stopped them in their tracks.

“No weapons allowed.” she stated.

Beau rolled her eyes and leaned over towards Jester.

“I know something that always works.”

“What do you mean?” Jester questioned.

Beau raised her palm and focused her attention back on the pale woman.

“I’ll give you five silver on top of our tickets if you let us enter with our weapons.” Beau offered, even sending a sly wink the woman’s way.

Squinting, the woman nodded.

Jester tugged on Beau’s arm, whispering, “What are you doing? That’s a lot of money for you.”

“Just pay your ticket and I’ll be fine.” Beau whispered back.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am, Jester. Don’t worry about it.”

The two forked over the money for them to enter, and before Beau could send another wink the woman’s way, Jester’s hand had found its way into her roommate’s and pulled Beau towards their seat.

The two settled themselves in front row seats and prepared themselves for the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, hope y'all enjoy a parallel to the past!
> 
> Details: Yeah, because of Beau and Jester being alone, they woke up at a different time than they did in this campaign, thus never coming across Molly, Yasha (well other than when Beau paid her off), Fjord, Caleb, or Nott. Fun fact, that flyer they found was offered to Caleb and Nott, but because they never met Beau and Jes, they never found the need to go.
> 
> As always, please kudos, comment, share, etc! It's always fun to hear y'all's thoughts.


	3. carnival chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I fully acknowledge the fact that this is practically four hours later than I said I would upload but I completely forgot, I'm sorry y'all!
> 
> Ch. 2 Summary: Jester wakes up, briefly startled by Beau's presence. She goes downstairs and orders breakfast for both of them (with some suggestions from the Traveler), while trying to perfect her drawing from the night before. Beau walks downstairs and learns that the Ruby of the Sea is Jester's mother, but before the two part ways, Jester makes a suggestion: that the two go to The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities.

Jester sat firmly in a space as close to Beau as possible.

Scanning the crowd, she took note of the truth to the flyer’s words-there were no elderly or sick people in attendance. Distant chatter died down in tandem to the lights within the tent. Before long, Beau was squinting in the dark, and Jester was looking for any sign of movement from a performer.

A quiet nostalgia found itself in Jester’s mind, the image of the carnival in front of her replaced by the not-so-distant memory of her room in Nicodranas.

_“My Sapphire, I have to go to work now. Be still, and behave.” her mother reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind Jester’s ear. “I love you.”_

_ “I love you, momma!”_

_ Marion set a finger on Jester’s lips, and slowly pulled away when Jester took the hint. Placing a kiss on her forehead, the Ruby of the Sea exited Jester’s room and shut it tight, enveloping Jester in darkness._

_ Jester sat in the middle of her room, not daring to light a lantern and make her presence known. _

_ She pulled her knees to her chest and sat still. The sound of her mother opening the door cut through the silence, and a routine Jester heard through her entire life began as it always does. Marion gave a cordial greeting, before guiding her client to a bed and talking. After minutes to hours of mindless discussion and venting, Jester would often hear their conversations turn to other topics, and in time, they’d leave the room for another but Jester would hear sounds that lasted through the night until silence once more._

_ Tonight, before Jester heard their conversation turn, a familiar friend showed his hood._

_ “Jester, is everything alright?”_

_ “Yeah.” she whispered. “Momma’s just working.”_

_ The hood nodded, and he moved to sit beside Jester, covering the ear closest to Marion’s room with a gloved hand._

_ The Traveler pulled out a new sketchbook, whispering, “Would you like to practice drawing? It’s going to make a lot of people happy one day, including me.”_

_ “It will?” Jester asked, taking the newly-bound item and holding it close._

_ A small smile peeked through the shadows of the hood, outlined by green light._

_ “You will.” he pulled her into a side hug. “Just remember that you won’t have to stay in here forever. I’ll find you a way out, and I’m sure your mother would approve greatly.”_

_ Jester smiled to herself, looking down at her blank pages. _

_ Turning her gaze upward, she said, “Thank-”_

_ His form was gone._

_ “-you.”_

The Tiefling jolted out of her reverie when Bo, the carnival’s ringleader, descended in a funnel of light and began the show.

The seconds involved with each act melted into hours, Jester’s eyes taking in every detail an act had to offer. From sequins to facial expressions, her mind archived it. The carnival was like nothing she’d ever seen before, the lively colors of an acts’ costume or the light from a flame breathed in a rainbow of reality she’d missed out on when she spent hours inside her room.

Glancing at her side, Jester saw Beau entranced in the same way. Teal pupils fixated on every sudden action as if she was a child. The monk’s gaze met Jester, and in a matter of seconds, her once relaxed and child-like posture hardened into disinterested stiffness.

“This is dumb.” Beau commented.

“No, it's not, you were enjoying it two seconds ago!” Jester responded, hushing her voice to barely above a whisper.

Beau rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the current act.

Jester eyed her companion out of the corner of her eye. She saw that once Beau thought she was no longer looking, her posture relaxed once more, and a distant innocence rested itself in Beau’s gaze.

The Tiefling smiled to herself and paid attention to the show.

After a few acts had run their course, a young girl was presented atop a pillar, and with all eyes on her, she sang.

From another corner of the tent, a large beast was released from its chains, and Jester’s body tensed, only slacking when a wrapped hand rested itself on her knee.

Yet, while the creature launched itself forward and clambered towards the young girl, everyone’s breath easing when it stilled at the sound of her voice. It rested at the bottom of the pillar, and Jester could’ve sworn that its face had the expression of content on it.

A figure stood up amongst the audience, an elderly one. He reached out before his body contorted. Those around him inched away, and in time he was screaming out in pain. Jester watched, dim light highlighting his skin breaking and shredding apart, bone emerging from beneath the skin, bellowing cries carrying through the tent. He stumbled forward and fell, dead.

But he stood up again, his body loose in unnatural ways, as he bit into a woman’s neck.

The crowd all stood, a large wave shifting away from the scene. Soon, the people were flooding the entrances, guided by some of the acts and Crownsguard. Two figures moved against the gradient: a purple Tiefling, and the woman Beau bribed.

Jester felt a firm grasp on her hand, and Beau yelled over the noise, “We have to go!”

“What?”

“We have to go!”

“Beau, we can’t just leave! I can cast spells, remember?” Jester spat.

“Jester, you said you could heal. You can do that once they have it under control.” Beau retorted, tugging at Jester’s hand.

“I know we just met, but I could really use your help, Beau!” Jester finished, pulling away from Beau’s grip and stomped towards the two figures who had once been from the crowd.

Beau stood still for a few moments, staring at the back of Jester’s head. She stood still as panicked carnival-goers shoved past her, and the monk tightened her fists. She swore to herself and pushed past the crowd to catch up to Jester.

Jester ran forward and cast _Sacred Flame, _sending the once docile old man into a brief pyre.

“Holy shit.” Beau spoke.

“I know, right?” Jester winked.

The monk rushed forward alongside the woman she bribed, sticking one end of her bo staff into the man’s face. The purple Tiefling joined as well, as he sent a scimitar into the back of their enemy. The four focused their attention on the man, and in time, his unnatural form was _nearly_ down.

Jester grinned, but her expression shifted to worry when she noted how bloodied Beau had become in the fight.

A second figure rose. This time, its stature was a bit smaller than the man, and Jester recognized it as the woman the man bit.

Blindsided, Jester could only watch as Beau was knocked onto the ground, bleeding out. The Tiefling felt her stomach drop, and sent a quick prayer to the Traveler and expended a great deal of energy into healing Beau. It was a new first level spell that brought Beau back into consciousness.

Jester thanked her deity and ran towards her companion, ignoring the wounds she had sustained herself. In her hastiness, she was bludgeoned by their two enemies, which knocked her onto the ground. Trying to right herself, Jester was knocked once more, filling her mouth with sand and bashing her temple onto the ground.

.

.

.

Jester’s eyes fluttered open, staring up into teal eyes. Her head was resting on something soft and warm, and it was pretty comfortable.

“You okay?” Beau whispered.

The Tiefling sat up and looked around. She was in a damp cell, only lit up by a single torch, distant in the hallway connected to their…cell? Jester swallowed, anxiety clamping down on her throat. A long forgotten and ignored fear burrowed its way back to the forefront of her mind, and soon enough Jester’s breaths were shallow and fast before she swallowed her fear for Beau’s sake.

“Jester, it’s alright.” Beau whispered again, crawling to sit in front of her. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

In silence she nodded, her mind brought back to reality when Beau set a feather-light hand on her shoulder.

Their cell’s bars were hit, echoing throughout the cell.

“Which one of you’s Beauregard?”

“It’s just Beau.” she responded, a steely expression locked onto a Crownsguard.

Jester felt her body freeze in place again when Beau stood up.

Beau must’ve noticed because she whispered something to the guard and turned back towards Jester. She placed another hand on Jester’s shoulder again, looking into her eyes with a serious, but sincere expression. Beau wiped away a tear that Jester didn’t notice roll down her cheek.

“I’ll be back, don’t worry, Jester.”

Jester bit her lip, nodding as Beau stepped out.

Rather than follow Beau, however, the guard stayed still, keeping an eye on Jester.

The guard crossed his arms, saying, “She asked that I’d keep watch while she speaks to her visitor. Don’t worry about her running away, I still have an eye on her right now.”

“…Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a throwback to write, and it was definitely interesting to write what the first fight would've gone like with only Jester, Beau, Yasha, and Molly.
> 
> Details: This isn't a detail per se, but notice how Marion's first dialogue referred to her as "[Jester's] mother" while when Marion left she was referred to as "the Ruby of the Sea,"? 
> 
> I know one detail is really short but I'ma be real with you, there were a couple of things I snuck in to see if y'all would see how off they are and possibly theorize about their importance? But I won't tell you what those details are.
> 
> As always, sharing, dropping kudos, and commenting are always fun to get notifications for, but y'all are never under any pressure from me to do so!


	4. pardons and future pursuits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! 
> 
> Ch. 3 Summary: Beau and Jester head off to the carnival, and upon taking their seats, become enraptured by the display. Jester is reminded of her home, but when she shakes herself out of the memory, finds Beau with an innocent joy in her eyes. The two continue to watch until two monsters come to be, which takes out the two of them. Both Beau and Jester wake up in a cell, with Beau being called away for an unknown reason.

Beau stilled any of the running thoughts she had from the interaction she had with Jester. She nodded to the Crownsguard keeping watch and followed his instructions, only stopping when she was face to face with someone dressed in similar garbs to hers.

An elf with dark skin and a bald head pulled her hood back and stared into Beau’s eyes.

“You’re Beauregard, correct?” she asked, though her tone sounded more like a statement.

“Yeah. You with the Reserve?”

A single nod was sent Beau’s way, and the stranger opened her mouth, saying, “I’ve come to take you out of your predicament. On one condition.”

Beau rolled her eyes, and while crossing her arms, signaling for the monk to continue.

“You have potential, even when you failed against those creatures, you had potential. So, come join us, and train under my wing. You can go where you need to, but when I come to train you, you must listen. Understand?”

A million thoughts in her head told her to just take advantage of this and run, but the image of Jester in the cell put a halt to it.

“Yeah.” Beau spoke.

“Good. Pack your things, you won’t have to stay in this prison any longer.” she turned away and started walking. “Tonight you will meet me to train in one of the Baumbauch’s storage facilities. I will also make you aware of a task I’d like you to handle.”

“Yeah, understood.” Beau responded.

“By the way, I am Expositor Dairon. I _hope_ my training will work on you.” Dairon finished.

Beau straightened out her clothes and stood still.

“Can I have a plus one?”

Dairon turned towards Beau once more and narrowed her gaze, warning, “You may. Do not grow close to them.”

“Great…can you pardon her too?” Beau asked, fiddling with the hem of her robe.

The elf rolled her eyes.

“This will be the only time I’m doing this. If any other Expositors ask, tell them you broke her out yourself.”

Dairon walked past Beau and back into the prison, not noticing Beau’s sigh of relief.

.

.

.

Jester took her first deep breath in and out, ignoring the curious gaze of the Crownsguard standing outside her cell. A hint of calm spread throughout her body, scratching the surface of the anxiety within her belly. Jester balled her hands into fists and focused on the Traveler, and once her spinning world stood still, as she sent a quick prayer to her friend.

“Are you Beauregard’s…plus one?” a shadow spoke.

“Yes, she is.” Beau stated, moving into the torchlight. “Also, can you please just call me Beau?”

The Tiefling watched as the Crownsguard sent a suspicious glance the shadow’s way, but moved to unlock the cell. Jester jumped up and took hasty steps towards her new opening, before rushing into Beau’s arms.

Beau froze still for a moment but returned Jester’s hug.

“I was only gone a minute, don’t get too sappy on me yet.” Beau joked, tightening a reluctant hug.

Jester buried her face in Beau’s shoulder and whispered, “Thank you.” she pulled away. “For not leaving me here.”

Beau waved her off but nodded to Dairon, leading the three of them out of the streets, and into the cool early morning air.

“Don’t grow attached to her, Beauregard.” Dairon whispered.

.

.

.

When the two had arrived back in their room, Jester wasted no time in tossing herself onto their bed and curling herself under their blankets. She might be resistant to the cold, but she wanted to feel warm and _safe_ right now. The coldness of that cell was something she wasn’t comfortable feeling again.

Beau settled herself next to Jester, sitting on top of the blankets and leaning against a wall. She let the initial tension melt away from her meeting with Dairon and stilled the numerous thoughts running through her head.

“Beau?”

The monk turned towards her roommate at the call of her name. Jester’s face was barely visible, being mostly obscured until her nose by the blanket.

“Yeah?”

“Can we leave?” Jester whispered, trying to still her voice from shaking.

Beau tried repeating the command Dairon had given her, but seeing Jester underneath the blankets had melted the mantra from her mind. The monk gently pulled the blanket below Jester’s chin.

“Could we stay tonight? I have something to wrap up here, but we can leave first thing in the morning.” Beau compromised, sending a tight grin Jester’s way.

“Okay.” Jester said, pulling the blanket off and sitting up next to Beau. “Can you hand me my sketchbook from my bag?”

Beau leaned over the edge of their bed and pulled out Jester’s well-worn sketchbook and handed it to her, also tossing her one of the scattered pens within her satchel.

Jester focused on sketching the creatures from the carnival from the night before, drawing every gory detail she could remember. She blocked out any memory of Beau falling to the ground and instead focused on every jutting bone from the old man. It was gross, but she could hear the Traveler gagging along with her.

Jester continued drawing for the rest of the day, staying in her room unless she had to eat or go to the bathroom.

It didn’t take too long in the evening for her to pass out beneath the covers.

Beau, noticing Jester was asleep, sighed in content and tucked her in, quietly leaving the room and heading towards the nearest Baumbauch storage facility.

.

.

.

Sure enough, Dairon stood in front of the doorway, with Archivist Zeenoth of all people.

“Fuckin’ hell.” Beau swore, stepping between the two and entering the building.

“Please sit.” Dairon requested, gesturing towards one of the two chairs in the middle of the room.

Beau squinted and crossed her arms.

Dairon sighed and waved Zeenoth over, saying, “One of the things I’m about to demonstrate will become common knowledge to you after you sit.”

The younger monk rolled her eyes, but stood in place, watching closely.

Dairon placed a firm grip on Zeenoth’s shoulder and sent knuckle after knuckle throughout his body. Her fists were a blur, going from temple to neck to shoulder to the torso, locking him in place. He didn’t understand what Dairon was doing in time, so his face was caught in an expression of surprise and annoyance.

Beau chuckled out loud and stepped towards Zeenoth, poking him.

He didn’t move.

Beau promptly sat down.

“Before I move forward in teaching you, I need you to understand that I’m teaching you because of a mission I can only entrust to you.” Dairon stated.

“What is it?”

“The Soul has been receiving reports from the various temples in large cities, such as Zadash, Rexxentrum, even Kamordah, that their holy sites have been defaced. Even one of our own facilities have…_fallen victim_ to it.” Dairon smirked at the last sentence but handed Beau a blue-stained leather-bound book. “That’s for your findings.”

Beau tried not to drool at the color, and at the symbols pressed in the front of the book.

“We believe this is connected to a smaller deity that has recently risen in power. We know not of the size of his followers, nor the power he has, but the king, as well as the various worshippers throughout the Empire, would like to not see this defacement continue.”

“You want me to do what, arrest some punks for drawing?” Beau interjected.

“Survey the empire. You love traveling, so we thought that it would work well with your lifestyle.” Dairon stood and handed Beau a pen. “Take notes, learn what you need to, and report to any Cobalt Soul facility you happen to be by. Tell them to relay what you find to me, and they’ll know what to do. I trust that this is a simple enough mission for you.”

Beau nodded, looking over the pen and spoke up, noting, “Is there any detail you want me to find first?”

“His name. We’ve been needing a title for all of the reports compiled in our libraries, and its been quite bland just to call them all ‘Graffiti Cases’.” Dairon answered, waving Zeenoth away and held out a hand to Beau. “Now let’s train.”

.

.

.

After training, Beau stumbled into her share room and only had enough energy to drop her robe on the foot of her shared bed. She fell asleep the moment she landed on the bed, keeping close to Jester’s form, and nestling her head close to Jester’s shoulder when in deep slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's always a bit weird changing some of the past events in the earlier episodes, but it's still pretty fun.
> 
> As always, see you next chapter, and if you'd like, drop a kudos, comment, or share! (you don't actually need to but if you wanna)


	5. the journey north

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA funny story! So I was out helping my parents with groceries soooo that's why I'm basically an hour late. With that being said, please tell me if there's a mistake because I didn't really have time to triple-check this okay byeeee
> 
> Ch. 4 Summary: Beau meets the person who had a special interest in her: Dairon, an expositor from the Cobalt Soul. While Beau initially brushes off the monk's offer, she opts to train under Dairon and do a mission for her in exchange for her and Jester's freedom. Beau returns to her newfound friend and the two are released, and later that night Beau completes her first training exercise with Dairon. She also learns of her mission: find as much information as she can about this new deity behind vandalisms all around the empire.

Jester woke up, bleary-eyed.

Rubbing the blur out of her eyes, she jumped in place when she saw Beau awake, wrapping bruised arms and holding small cuts closed.

“Beau?” Jester spoke, sitting up in bed.

The monk turned around and sent a tight smile her roommates’ way.

“Don’t worry, I just got a bit bruised last night.” she answered, noting Jester’s doubt. “We can still leave for north at first light.”

“I’m not really worried about leaving right now. Do you want me to heal you?”

Beau shook her head and held out a hand, nodding to the Inn’s stairs.

“Let’s go grab some breakfast before we leave.”

Jester took Beau’s hand and followed her to breakfast, where the two ate in silence before pocketing extra food, namely bacon, for their travels.

Once set on the road with what was likely a stolen horse, Beau and Jester found themselves in increasing amounts of boredom every hour they inched forward on empty roads. Of course, occasional carts wheeled past them, but there was no one of interest to greet or talk to.

Beau, whose eyes were trained on the dusty path as she controlled the reins, glanced behind herself and saw Jester fiddling with a deck of cards.

“What are those for?”

“These?” Jester responded, holding up her cards. “These are cards for the _Courting of the Crick_.”

“The what?”

“It’s just a game that a friend taught me, just look at what I do.”

“I’m currently driving a horse, Jester. I can’t exactly do that.”

Jester groaned and shook Beau back and forth, saying, “Then let’s take a break! I can show you how to play while our horse rests.”

“Fine.”

The two stopped next to a lofty tree, resting beneath its shade. Jester showed Beau how to play and after a few rounds, the two were on equal grounds to place their bets and play against each other. The two looked at their hands and traded in their cards, keeping the strongest poker faces they could muster. Yet, the two could only grin at each other when they looked up from their hands.

“Are you ready, Beau?”

“’Course I am.”

Jester and Beau slapped down their hands and scrutinized their opponents. They had the same type of hand. It was a draw.

“Shit.” Jester whispered.

“You can keep the coins.”

“No, Beau, I didn’t win.”

“Then we can keep whatever we bet.” Beau compromised.

Jester nodded and scooped her bronze into her coin pouch, with Beau mirroring her. The two stood up from their rest and Jester rushed over to their horse, patting its mane.

“Can I take the lead this time?” Jester asked, trying to recreate the face of a puppy.

“Do you know how to handle one?”

“No, but you can help.”

Beau rolled her eyes, and helped Jester up onto the saddle, careful not to let her fall off. The monk jumped onto the saddle behind Jester, sitting close and delicately setting her hands on Jester’s hips, careful not to be too touchy.

Jester once more thanked the Traveler that she couldn’t blush, and held the reins of their horse, who she decided to call Haystack. She remembered calling him that the first time, to Beau’s chagrin, but Beau ultimately gave up her efforts on renaming their mount.

“Alright, hold the reins tight and make sure not to startle him.”

For the next few minutes, Jester paid attention to every tip Beau offered.

In the first few hundred feet of trepidatious riding, Beau clung to Jester after their multitudes of erratic stops, but after an hour of instruction, Jester had full control over Hay. It startled Beau how easily Jester got along with animals, but brushed off her doubt and figured that Jester was probably guided by the Wildmother herself.

“You’re a cleric, right?”

Jester nodded, not turning around because of how close Beau was.

“Who do you worship? Pelor, or Erathis or-”

“They sound lame, why would I ever worship them?” Jester commented, patting Haystack’s mane.

“I just assumed that you’d follow someone approved from the Empire, is all.”

The Tiefling glanced back at Beau and scoffed, “No, I’m from Nicodranas.”

Beau’s jaw dropped a little.

“You’re from the Menagerie Coast?”

“Yep.” Jester chuckled. “But to answer your actual question, I worship the Traveler. He’s my friend who taught me how to play the _Courting of the Crick_.”

Beau’s jaw dropped a little further.

“Whoever that is, they’re probably not liked by the Empire. You probably shouldn’t boast about him in public. Especially not when we arrive in Zadash.” Beau noted, glancing at Jester’s belt.

“Oh, okay then.” Jester paused. “Do you worship anyone?”

“Not really. I mean the people I work for worship Ioun, the goddess of knowledge, but I don’t worship her.”

“Why not?”

“I…don’t know. Maybe one day.” Beau leaned over Jester’s shoulder. “Hell, I might even worship your friend, but I’d have to see him first.” Beau finished, pulling her hands from Jester’s waist.

Jester stiffed from the conversation and lack of contact, continuing to lead Haystack on their path. Tension had melted away in their numerous hours on the road, and the sky darkened. Beau groaned and pointed to a spot by the road on a lone tree.

“We can set up camp over there.”

The Tiefling nodded and led Hay off-road and the two set up a ramshackle tent for the night, tying their horse to the lone tree. Beau and Jester crawled into their tent after lighting a campfire, only noticing that there wasn’t much space in said tent after rain poured down in the evening.

Laying next to each other, Jester whispered, “Can I lay on your arm? I don’t really mind the cold but the rain’s getting me chilly.”

“Uh, sure.”

Jester’s cheeks warmed from her proximity to Beau, but the heat she siphoned from her friend shut her eyes sooner than she expected.

.

.

.

Beau, on the other hand, couldn’t fall asleep because of how close Jester was. Sighing to herself, Beau shifted beneath Jester’s head and reached for Jester’s novel, reading it until she could barely keep herself awake.

While reading, Beau was sure that the princess was more interested in her maid more than the knight, since her maid had the exact same story as the knight, but instead of being a stranger, she had been a lifelong friend to the princess. Beau scoffed to herself while putting away the book. Romance novels were always weird.

.

.

.

In the morning, Jester awoke to a wincing, but still asleep Beau. Jester sat up beneath the tent and pulled off Beau’s wraps, looking closer at the bruises she only got a glance at before. Running her hand over the bruises, Jester found herself in the grip of Beau’s other hand, freezing when she looked into the eyes of an angry Beau.

Beau’s anger faded, and she let go of Jester’s wrist, tightening her wraps once more.

“I can heal you, you-”

“I know.” Beau sighed. “Sorry…for the aggression. But you don’t have to waste a spell on me.”

“I still got the strong one from before, you know. I could probably make all of those cuts and bruises go away right now.” Jester offered, reaching for Beau’s arm.

“I’m fine, Jester. They’ll fade in a week.”

“Okay then. But you’ll look like you have a circle of vomit over your eye in the meantime…”

Beau rolled her eyes and exited the tent, cursing when the wraps on her feet got soaked from the rain in the grass.

Jester followed and grabbed Beau’s pinky with her own, asking, “Where did you get those from?”

“A fight.”

Jester raised an eyebrow.

“I…” Beau trailed.

Jester let go of Beau’s pinky and focused on looking into her friend’s eyes. She tried her best to be as welcoming as possible, but she could tell Beau was still hesitant.

“You know how the people I work with worship Ioun?”

“Yes.”

“Well, they’re all monks. And so am I, _but_ I’m still new.” Beau paused, looking for discomfort in Jester’s eyes. “I have a task to do, and it’s to head north. But uh, I got bruises from training. That’s all.”

“Was that supposed to be a secret?”

“Sort of.”

Jester giggled at Beau’s unease and promised, “I won’t tell anyone. Maybe the Traveler, but no one else.”

“…Thanks, Jester.”

“Just let me heal you next time, alright?”

Beau nodded, and turned to put away their tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AGAIN sorry for uploading this an hour late. But I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> If you did, please leave a comment or share (but you know the drill by now, I'm not gonna coerce you into doing so).
> 
> P.S: Also if you want more dumb stuff from me, maybe check out my youtube,,,channel? I mean it's one video of Apex but if you too have an interest in it and wanna hear my dumb voice, here!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvMzzOJRgsc&t=11s


	6. ashes to ashes, wounds to spells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY Y'ALL! I moved the other week and this last weekend I was just busy as hell. With that being said, I am taking another two-week break from this fic in order to plan more chapters ahead and make sure I still have a central narrative in mind.
> 
> Ch. 5 Summary: Beau and Jester make their way to the north, conversing and spending time with one another, learning about each other's gods (or lack thereof). Beau refuses healing but promises Jester to let her use her spells next time.

Jester and Beau were in no rush to get to their next stop. Alefield was as much of an interesting town as Trostenwald, and they both had each other as company whenever the endless rolling hills of their journey felt _too_ monotonous.

.

.

.

But they arrived in due time.

Haystack’s hoofs stopped at the threshold to Alefield’s city entrance, and the two travelers found themselves frozen in shock at the sight in front of them.

The city looked almost entirely leveled, with foundations buried in piles of ashes and stained with soot. People limped their way around the streets, faces drenched in sweat, blood, or ash. Looking up, the two felt the dreary oppression of the smoke-covered sky, sunlight barely able to push through the dark shapes.

Jester hopped off their horse and handed the reins to Beau, scanning the buildings closest to them. Her eyes fell onto a small boy, who sat on the steps of an ashen home, his knees pulled into his chest. The Tiefling glanced back at Beau before approaching, crouching down to his level.

“Are you okay?”

The boy flinched at her comment and played with the hem of his ragged shorts.

“Where are your parents?” Jester continued, offering him one of her spare pastries.

He took it with shaky hands and pointed back to the building behind him, burnt to the ground.

“Oh.”

Jester looked down to the ground, ignoring Beau’s figure joining her.

“You got a name?” Beau whispered.

“Bren. W-What’s yours?” he spoke.

The monk paused, and handed him a strip of bacon, responding, “Beau. Did your uh, parents love you?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, kid.” Beau offered her hand. “Let’s get you to some Crownsguard.”

Jester knew Beau could never admit it, but her vision focused on Beau’s shimmering eyes, as well as her shaky, quiet voice, and tender hands as the monk guided Bren and lifted him up on their horse. Beau and Jester nodded to each other, as Jester hopped back onto Haystack and drove him, while Beau walked alongside them.

Silence held its grip on the three as they walked through the streets of Alefield, Jester finding herself more focused on covering Bren’s eyes whenever she noticed a puddle of blood on the ground or bodies strewn across the stairs or foundations of homes. Jester could only keep her mind off the situation at hand for a few seconds at a time before she spotted another body or splatter of blood. Her books had never told her these things happened.

The small group found themselves having to enter a narrow alley since debris blocked the main streets. Beau kept her head high, but even she couldn’t ignore the death around her. She continued leading the way through the alley and stopped.

Two dog-like creatures stood in front of them, blocking their path. They stood upright, and deep gashes littered their armor and bodies as they snarled at the group. In their hands were rudimentary spears and swords, coated with blood.

“Jester, get Bren away from here. I got this.” Beau stated, feigning the best cocky smirk she could.

The Tiefling took pause and glanced between her friend and the two creatures in front of them, and jumped when Beau looked back to catch a spear just before it gouged her eye out.

“Okay, Beau.”

Jester turned Haystack around and buried Bren’s face into her shoulder as she galloped away from the scene until she stopped at another narrow alley. Jester hopped off her horse and moved Bren onto the ground.

“Don’t leave, please.” he pleaded, gripping Jester’s mud and ash-covered skirt.

“I’ll come back, Bren.” Jester turned towards the opening of the alleyway and looked back to Bren. “_But_ if I or Beau don’t come back, find some Crownsguard and get somewhere safe.”

“What about you two?”

Jester sighed and sent a bright smile Bren’s way.

“Don’t worry! We’ll be fine.”

The Tiefling jumped back onto Haystack and raced back to the alleyway where Beau was. Upon arrival, she saw her friend shifting her weight from foot to foot, her robes bloodied. One of the creatures looked like it was about to keel over from the number of bones jutting out its torso, likely caused by Beau’s punches. Yet, they turned their attention towards Jester, and following their eyeline, Beau turned towards her friend too.

“Jes-”

Beau got cut short when she yelled out in pain at an arrow in her torso and caught another one before it buried itself too deep in her shoulder. The monk looked back at Jester again as her eyes rolled backward, as she shook her head at Jester.

Jester felt a familiar fear settle itself in her throat, as warm tears coated her eyes. Cold crystals of ice grew on her knuckles and froze her tears, as Jester conjured a spell.

Sending a small prayer to the Traveler, she finished her spell, which conjured the feeling of strong shocks of energy course through her left arm, and as she pointed to one of the creatures she let the spell go. Arcs of small sparks jumped from point to point in her finger, lighting her hand in a pink glow, before the spark grew in size and snapped to the head of her target, shocking it to death.

The other creature glanced back at its companion and growled at Jester rushing forward and bringing a sword down onto her. Jester furrowed her brows and put her shield up, glancing the blow, before switching places with it and sent another prayer its way.

Her enemy stood still before a dull pink flame wrapped itself around the creature, setting it on fire. The dog-like humanoid yelled out in pain as its fur burned away to its skin and continued burning until it fell to the ground, dead.

Jester stood still for a moment, trying to look away from the carcasses of things she killed. _Brutally_.

She shook her head from the weight on her consciousness and removed the source of Beau’s wounds, whispering another prayer and casting her strongest healing spell.

Her friend’s wounds sealed themselves shut, and Beau came to consciousness in Jester’s arms.

“Jester?”

“Hey, Beau.” she responded, forcing a smile onto her face.

“What happened to those little shits-” Beau sat up, taking in her surroundings. “Oh.”

Jester pulled Beau onto her feet and moved past Beau to find where Haystack somehow ran off to when she fought.

“Jester.”

The Tiefling turned around to Beau.

“Did you…kill those things?”

“Yeah.” she paused and smiled tightly once more. “But you’re alive, so it’s okay! Let’s go get Bren.”

The group arrived at a ramshackle tent city within Alefield’s town square, and a Half-Elf walked their way over to the group, their face full of dirt and sweat.

“Who might you all be?” they asked.

“I’m Jester, that’s Beau, and that’s Bren.”

“Well, I’m Watchmaster Bryce. But you can call me Bryce.” they continued, crouching down to Bren and looking him over. “Where are your parents?”

“They passed. Look, we were just gonna pass by the town and maybe rest for a few nights, but we saw…all of this.” Beau paused and looked at Bren. “We found him sitting at the steps of his home. Hopefully, you can find him another one.”

“I hope so too. But, I better get him settled. If you want, I can pay you back for your service tomorrow, after we get the city’s coffers sorted-”

“We’re good, Watchmaster.” Beau interrupted.

“Oh, well then, I better get Bren to a cot. If you want, you two can stay in one of the tents for the night.” they paused as they sent Bren towards a tent and leaned into Beau and Jester. “Thank you, if another kid had died because of this…”

“Yeah…” Jester trailed, as visions of the dead came to the forefront of her mind.

The three adults stood in silence for a moment.

“Mom?” Bren yelled out.

Jester felt her heart break a little from the pleading in his voice until she looked up to see two women pulled Bren into a tight hug.

“Oh, his moms survived after all. Thank the gods.” Bryce commented, as they shook the duo’s hands and joined Bren and his mothers.

.

.

.

In the end, there were no free cots, as they were taken by all the injured, elderly, or kids. Jester didn’t have a problem with that and helped Beau set up their sleeping arrangements by Bren’s tent.

When they had lain on their bedroll, Beau quickly fell into sleep.

Jester couldn’t shut her eyes for longer than two seconds.

So she stayed up, drawing Bren and his mothers in her sketchbook.

It was weird, Jester never recalled reading a romance book with two men falling in love, or even two women, like Bren’s moms. Jester laid her pencil down and looked at the small family, smiling that they were back together. She glanced at Beau beside her, smiling.

Beau probably would want to have a family like Bren’s.

Jester continued smiling until Beau’s torso, uncovered by their bedroll’s sheets showed itself to the cleric.

While her spell had sealed the wound, she noticed that the edges of the gash weren’t clean. There was a scar in the wound’s place, and it still looked like it needed a week or so to heal. Jester cursed to herself, at the result, and reached out to touch the scar.

“Jester?”

She pulled her hand away and turned away from Beau.

“Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

“Of course I am! Are you okay? I mean look at you, you have scars, Beau!”

Beau sat up slowly, trying her best to meet Jester’s gaze.

“I’m good, Jester. These’ll heal, so there’s no need to waste a spell.”

Jester shook her head and started to mutter the spell for a weaker healing spell.

A dull light illuminated their faces, and Jester reached out her hand for Beau’s torso. The latter placed a firm, but gentle grip on Jester’s wrist and shook her hand.

“I’m _okay_. Are you?”

Jester nodded.

“Okay. Let’s get some sleep then.”

“Goodnight, Beau.”

“Goodnight, Jester.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and y'all know the drill, kudos, share, comment if you'd like! Again, I will be taking another two-week break to plan this fic out more but if you're craving more BJ content, I always have my BJ playlist (which I recently updated so get on it y'all).
> 
> (also I'd usually do some notes here and there but I'd imagine its best to just enjoy this one)
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1WlGZtfQtioPmB7o7Fl0a4


	7. scars and the future's path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back y'all! Not gonna lie school's been a pain in the butt lately but since this is a place of respite from irl, I'm not gonna bore you with that stuff. NEW CHAPTER NEW ADDAGE TO THE STORY.
> 
> Ch. 6 Summary: As Jester and Beau travel further north, they come across the small town of Alefield. However, the city is in ruin and the duo rush in to find out what happened. They come across Bren, a little boy who lost his parents. Walking through the city, the group is stopped when they come across injured dog-like creatures, which Beau attempts to hold off while Jester and Bren leave to find Crownsguard. Not willing to let her friend die, Jester leaves Bren alone with their horse and comes back in time to watch Beau go unconscious. Infuriated, she casts some of her most painful spells, killing the creatures and bringing Beau back to consciousness. The three keep moving forward, coming across Watchmaster Bryce Feelid, dropping Bren off and learning that his two mothers were okay. Injured and tired, the duo go to sleep.

Beau woke up early the next morning to a buzzing warmth in her torso and her shoulder. She tried to let the feeling lull her back to sleep, but her mind had already woken up. She opened her eyes only to find Jester sitting next to her and leaning across her body to try and seal the wounds as clean as she could.

The monk tried her best to pretend to look asleep, but her eyes caught onto Jester’s tired face, full of sweat as she cast another spell onto her body.

Beau sat up in time to catch her friend as Jester collapsed on top of her shoulder.

She brushed back Jester’s bangs and let the woman rest her head for a few moments while she caught her breath.

“It’s okay, Jester.” Beau chuckled. “Sometimes I’ll get scars that you can’t heal, and you gotta leave that for me to handle.”

Jester gulped in a shaky breath, whispering, “What’s the good of these spells if they don’t make you okay again?”

“I’m fine with not being okay, these scars won’t hurt in a week.”

“Okay.” Jester sighed and moved her head from her friend’s shoulder. “Just don’t get into any bad fights, I’m out of my good spells today.”

Beau nodded and wiped Jester’s sweat-drenched forehead with her robes. She tried not to make it look like she cared too much, so she opted not to tuck a stray hair behind Jester’s ear. Beau helped her friend onto her feet and rolled up their bedding to head out for the day.

Nothing here in Alefield would lighten their thoughts, anyway.

Upon seeing Bryce, Beau jogged over to them, careful not to wake any of the locals in their sleeping arrangements.

“Hey, how’s Bren doing?” she asked.

“He’s doing good.” the Watchmaster paused to gesture around at the tent city. “Of course, he’s just a kid and all _this_ will be with him for a while, but he’s lucky he’s not an orphan.”

“Yeah. Uh look, I know this isn’t much, but can you give this to Bren’s family?” Beau said, handing Bryce a small leather pouch.

“…Ms. Beau, this is gold and silver. Are you sure you can part with this?”

“For him and his moms, I can.” Beau set a firm hand on Bryce’s shoulder. “You’re one of the _few_ authority figures I respect. I didn’t see you anywhere else but here when I kept waking up last night.”

Bryce smiled and said, “Good luck on your journey, Beau.”

The monk gave a curt nod and jogged back over to her friend.

“I didn’t know you liked kids.” Jester teased, weakly poking at Beau’s shoulder.

“I don’t.”

“Okay…” Jester trailed, repeatedly raising a brow at Beau.

“Really?”

“C’mon, Beau. You didn’t care about that carnival because that little girl was safe. You only started to care when I decided to step in, but the moment you met Bren you were ready to fight.” Jester explained, hopping onto Haystack’s saddle.

Beau shifted Jester a few inches back and hopped onto the saddle, taking hold of the reins.

“He said his parents loved him, and he thought he lost them.” Beau looked back at Bryce, who was handing off the pouch to Bren’s family. “That’s more than I can say about my parents.”

“Oh. Sorry for your loss, Beau.”

“Loss? My dad’s an asshole. You?”

“I didn’t know my dad. Not yet at least, he might be in Zadash!” Jester responded, putting on her best smile. “…But hopefully, your dad isn’t an asshole anymore.”

“He’s probably still an asshole. Anyway, you’d have to cross your fingers to run into your dad in Zadash. It’s a big city with a lot of people, so you could ask anyone if they stopped by Nicodranas, and they’d probably say yes. Other than that, I could also ask about this Gentleman guy I read about in this letter I stole, who knows, he might be your dad.”

Jester took the letter Beau held out and read it closely.

“Wait. You stole this?”

“Yeah, ‘course I did. But that letter’s suspicious, right?”

“Yes, it is. I hope that isn’t my dad.”

Beau nodded, pointing out, “Yeah that Gentleman dude definitely smuggles shit. Probably illegal stuff. And unless you wanna do that too…”

“No, not really.” Jester paused and closed the letter. “Let’s get going Beau, I don’t wanna see this stuff anymore.”

.

.

.

On the road, the two found themselves in a familiar pit of boredom.

During their second day on their way to Zadash, Jester resorted to reading her romance novel to entertain the two. Spurred on by the happy image of Bren’s family, she made the maid become the love interest of the princess. Even more inspired by Beau’s shock, she embellished the romance to become one of friends becoming lovers, something she read about from another novel.

By the time Jester had finished a third of the retelling, Beau stopped Haystack in his place and turned back towards Jester with a wide grin on her face.

“Holy shit, what happens next?” Beau commented.

Of course, Beau read the book before when Jester was asleep, but the Tiefling’s retelling of the story through a different lens made it much more interesting than it was when it was just the random knight galloping himself into the princess’ story.

“You’ll find out tomorrow when I continue reading.” Jester answered, pointing out a grouping of trees by the road. “Can we take a rest over there? I’m a little thirsty from reading for so long.”

“Yeah, but you gotta tell me how you came up with all of that.”

The two settled beneath the shade of the tree, Beau handing Jester a water pouch. Her friend took it and gulped the entirety of it down in one tip. Looking at Jester’s rolled up sleeves, Beau’s jaw hung open for a few seconds. She shook off the warmth of her cheeks caused by Jester. Who knew that spellcasters could be ripped?

The monk took the water pouch back and gestured for Jester to explain.

“I remembered Bren’s moms. Besides, I knew that you hated it when I told the story originally.” Jester paused to wipe away the remainder of water on her mouth. “And you’ve only flirted with girls, so I figured that would be more entertaining for you.”

Beau let out a chuckle and ran her fingers over the book’s cover, commenting, “Thanks for thinking of me. I’d only read one book with two women falling in love. _Gentleman Jack_. Two noble women falling for each other? Gods, that was a dream I had a long time ago.”

“Well I’m technically not considered nobility, but I think my mom is rich enough for it to not matter. Speaking of,” Jester put the book away. “I have to get my allowance from my mom in Zadash, she said it would be at the Pillow Trove.”

Beau almost choked on her spit.

“The Pillow Trove? Isn’t that one of the most expensive places to stay in Zadash?”

“I think so. Why?”

“I don’t have the money to pay for that.” Beau spat.

“Didn’t you say you were a noble?”

“…N-No. But how are we gonna pay for that?”

Jester sat up and hopped onto Haystack, saying, “My allowance is like two hundred gold, I think we’re fine.”

Beau’s eyes bulged as she sat behind Jester.

“Holy shit.”

“I can’t wait!”

The two traveled for another hour or so, and when the afternoon warmth hit the two, Beau tried her best to stay awake. But, she was only human and rested her chin on Jester’s shoulder.

One could say it was the sun, but Jester felt a warmth grow on her cheeks as she continued to ride until sundown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyooooooo! There aren't much specific details I added to the story for this one, other than the fact that Gentleman Jack is an obvious allusion to the BBC show, Gentleman Jack. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, commenting, kudos-ing and hope y'all continue to do so! Of course, you're never gonna be forced to so you're not obligated. See ya!


	8. hardbacks and a bath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright alright alright! New chapter!
> 
> Ch. 7 Summary: Beau and Jester depart from Alefield for Zadash. On the way there, the two keep each other company, with Jester reading her smut book to Beau, although with an alteration.

Jester and Beau arrived in Zadash moments after a torrential downpour stopped.

As per Jester’s request, Beau dropped Haystack off at the Pillow Trove’s stables and stood by with a slack jaw as Jester received a large leather pouch from the receptionist, Madame Luenna, and handed her 70 gold for the week they were supposedly going to stay there.

If it weren’t for the absurd amount of money Jester paid, Beau would’ve flirted with Luenna, but her eyes were fixated on Jester and her cheerful countenance.

Jester turned back towards her friend and looped a friendly arm around Beau’s and pulled her away from the front desk.

“Jester?” Beau croaked.

“Yeah?”

“You weren’t kidding about the 200 gold, huh?”

“Nope.” Jester scanned Beau’s face, locked in a look of relief and laughed. “Let’s go get some pastries and a new novel since we finished mine already.”

Beau nodded and readjusted herself, even putting her arm at a 90-degree angle like her parents insisted her suitors had to keep in order to court her. The monk wanted to keel over at the image of the suitors but snapped out of it when Jester pulled her closer as they walked arm-in-arm towards what looked like the nearest pastry shop.

After acquiring their pastries, Beau led Jester toward’s the Chastity’s Nook, a book shop that apparently sold erotica.

“How do you know all these things about Zadash, Beau?” Jester asked, her voice muffled by the doughnut she was chewing.

“I travel a lot, and Zadash was just one of the places I stopped by.” Beau shoveled a small doughnut hold into her mouth. “I remember one of my old…coworkers told me about this place.”

“Monks read smut?”

Beau had to stop walking to avoid choking on her food.

“Nope. This was a coworker from a job before the Cobalt Soul.”

“Is that why you knew so much about smuggling?” Jester finished, stopping short of opening the door to the shop.

Beau nodded and gestured for them to walk in.

Entering, the cool temperature of the outside subsided as warm candlelight and lanterns enveloped Beau and Jester. The interior had goods lining the shelves, all of which didn’t look particularly interesting. Yet, out the corner of Jester’s eye, was an entrance to what looked like a back room. The two glanced around before being greeted by a human with a wide smile on her face.

“Welcome to the Chastity’s Nook, how may I service you?” the woman greeted, her eyes enlarged by the glasses on her face.

Beau took half a step backward, caught off guard when Jester took the woman’s hand.

Jester shook her hand vigorously, whispering, “I’m Jester. Where’s your best smut?”

Beau’s eyes widened at the forwardness of her friend.

“Sorry, lady, Jester’s a bit excitable sometimes-”

“I like Jester.” the woman interjected, gripping Jester’s hand and shaking. “My name is Iva Deshin and you can follow me for the smut.”

Jester sent a wide grin Iva’s way and followed closely, internally cheering when she saw that they were entering the back room.

Glancing around, Jester noted the multitude of lewd titles and wealthy-looking nobles perusing the selection. Jester ran her hand over the spines of books, reading each title.

“Oskar, would you mind helping out our newest patron while I attend this one?” Iva spoke, leading a noble back to the front of the store.

A tall half-orc turned towards Jester and Beau, nodding and following loosely behind the Tiefling.

Jester continued to look at the titles imprinted on the spines of books. _Scent of the Sea, The Rosed Embrace, Guard of My Heart, Zemnian Nights, Enchanting Tryst. _Jester looked to a shelf higher than she could reach and spotted an interesting title: _Tusk Love._

“Oskar? Could you hand me that book please?” Jester asked.

.

.

. 

Beau stood by the entrance of the room, leaning against a shelf and trying not to look like she was paying attention to everything Oskar was doing around Jester. She wasn’t jealous. And she was sure as hell wasn’t jealous of how close Jester was being to _Oskar_ after she read the synopsis of Tusk Love. Beau groaned in annoyance to what her brain was doing to itself and turned towards the shelves she was leaning against.

“Do you have a book you’re looking for..?”

“Beau.”

“Do you have a book you’re looking for, Beau?”

The monk shifted her weight from foot to foot, focusing her eyes on the ground and away from Jester, the lingering image of her exhausted from casting spells and fighting gnolls alone ingrained in her mind, or the image of her downing an entire leather flask of water in one gulp. Her confusing set of feelings only worsened whenever she spared a glance of Jester bumping shoulders with Oskar.

“Not really, no.”

“Well, there’s a couple of books that I’ve been holding away for special occasions like this. Would you like to see them?” Iva offered.

Beau glanced back at Jester and sighed, answering, “Sure.”

Iva guided Beau back to the front of the Chastity’s Nook and behind the front desk, unlocking a drawer and presenting two old books to the monk.

“_Shallow Breaths _and _The Courting of the Crick._” Iva paused to look over Beau’s puzzled expression. “They’re unconventional books, sure, but they’re good reads, the Crick one in particular. It’ll definitely satisfy some of the pickiest librarians.”

Beau glanced down at her robes and rolled her eyes.

“Crick? As in Xhorhassians?”

“Exactly. This is _positively_ illegal to have, but I thought you might like these.”

Beau picked up the book and ran her hand over the cover and flipped it to the back, reading a mostly-faded synopsis about a Xhorhassian assassin who gave up their mission and fell in love with an imperial authority figure. The monk opened to the back of the book, only stopped by Iva’s steel grip.

“You need to pay to know what happens.”

Beau rolled her eyes.

“How much?”

“Fifteen gold pieces,” Iva whispered.

“Fuck no-”

Iva pulled the book from Beau’s hand and placed it back into the drawer, as Jester came to the front, holding a book: _Tusk Love._

Beau struggled to stop herself rolling her eyes again.

“Jester, could you do me a favor? I’ll pay you back.”

“Sure, Beau. How much is the book?”

Beau turned towards Iva and sighed.

Iva grinned widely and handed Beau _The Courting of the Crick, _holding her hand out for compensation. Jester paid 20 gold pieces for the both of them and the two exited, with Jester sending a wink towards Oskar while walking away.

The two stopped by their room in the Pillow Trove to put away their books, with Beau hiding her book beneath a floorboard to avoid getting arrested, and the two exited their temporary home and headed towards Steam’s Respite, a bathhouse Beau saw when she made her way through Zadash before.

Jester found herself wondering why Beau kept her distance, even as they were arm-in-arm, and tried to pay it no mind.

Beau and Jester arrived at the bathhouse and entered, with Beau breaking away from Jester’s arm and striding to the receptionist.

Behind the front desk was a half-orc woman whose brows raised at the entrance of the peculiar sight, especially because a librarian, with her abs bare, walked arm-in-arm with a Tiefling.

“My name is Ms. Rima. How may I help you two find relaxation and comfort today?”

Jester spoke for the two, saying, “Can we have a private bath, and have our clothes cleaned?”

Rima smiled at the Tiefling.

“Of course, is there anything else? If not, that will be five gold and two silver for the private chamber and your clothes.”

Beau sent a quick glance Jester’s way and turned back towards Rima.

“I think we’re good,” Beau answered, winking at Rima and following behind Jester to their private chamber.

The monk threw her clothes off as quickly as possible and settled herself on the underwater steps of their bath chamber, taking the complimentary bar of soap with her.

Jester turned her eyes away from Beau’s naked body and undressed, joining in the bath across from Beau, keeping her eyes above the water.

“Thanks for paying for my book, by the way,” Beau mumbled.

“Of course, and with my new book I can tell you a new story!” Jester responded, trying to gauge Beau’s mood.

Beau sighed quietly and continued bathing herself, cursing herself for staring at Jester’s arms. Jester was obviously interested in that Oskar guy, and obviously not interested in her. The monk couldn’t help but excuse a slowly forming crush on her friend as worry instead over her insistence on healing her whenever there was a slight possibility Beau could get a scar. Not a crush, just worry.

Jester sat across from Beau and felt her jaw drop when Beau let her hair down to wash it. She quickly corrected her eyeline and remembered that Beau was interested in other ladies, and Jester had already found the love of her life: Oskar. Jester simply admired how strong her friend was, even if she refused to be healed. It was just admiration.

At Beau’s continued silence, Jester left the bath first, announcing that she was squeaky clean.

While Beau was normally one to take advantage of a view-she would’ve if it was anyone else-Beau looked away when Jester emerged and joined soon after.

.

.

.

Later that night, when Beau was asleep in the bed next to hers, Jester stayed up, and after failing to draw Oskar, drew Beau washing her hair at the bathhouse. Of course, she censored everything else with expertly placed steam and water, but Jester couldn’t help but draw Beau’s abs.

“You continue to have an eye for art. I’m glad.” a voice rumbled.

Jester looked up from her sketchbook and whispered, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while, I was getting worried you forgot me.”

“I could never forget you, Jester. So long as you continue to do as you do.” a small smile emerged from the hood. “But could you do something for me? Just to get my name out there.”

“Of course!” Jester said, trying not to wake Beau.

“Go to the northern part of the Pentamarket and wait for me outside the temple dedicated to the Allfather there.”

“Are we doing a prank?” Jester asked, looking away to pack her bag with paints.

When she looked up her friend was nowhere to be found, just a hearty chuckle left in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love...yearning.
> 
> Detail Notes: Yeah I went to the CR wiki just to find out what books were offered to the Nein when they first passed by Zadash. Also yeah, the Nein originally passed by Zadash when it was raining.
> 
> Anyway please kudos, comment, share, all that good stuff if you wanna, but it's perfectly okay to...not do so.


	9. painting the temple red (with hearts)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the title's a play on the phrase "Painting the town red." That's a common phrase, right?
> 
> Ch. 8 Summary: After receiving Jester's allowance, both Beau and Jester headed to the Chastity's Nook, a smut shop that Beau heard of before her time as a monk. Arriving, Jester quickly made herself at home, perusing the books and flirting with a shop employee - Oskar. Beau watched from a distance before being pulled aside by the shop's owner to contemplate an illegal book, which Beau would end up buying with Jester's money on loan. The two headed to the local bathhouse, where Beau flirted with the receptionist before she and Jester ended up in a hot tub in one of the private chambers, with a tension between the two. Later on, Jester is visited by the Traveler, who tells her of a possible prank.

Jester sat down on a public bench, staring at the temple dedicated to the Allhammer.

“You were rather quick.” a small chuckle emerged from beside Jester. “And yes, you are doing a prank.”

The Tiefling pulled out one of her numerous brushes and kept her gaze trained on her friend.

“A celebration is coming soon in the city, and I’d like to leave a surprise for everyone planning to visit this god.” he whispered, standing up and taking a step towards the temple.

“I can do anything. I can draw dicks, I can draw your symbol, I could even write ‘the Traveler was here’!” Jester offered, already searching her bag for colors.

“Do whatever you please, Just leave a sheet or two for them to find so they can follow me too.” he instructed, producing a small stack of pamphlets.

Jester whispered a small prayer and disguised herself as an old woman, making sure to keep her green coat and hood.

She sprinted inside, happy to find it mostly empty, save for one guard and a Herald that wasn’t paying attention. Looking around, the temple was standard, though she knew it would look a lot better if it was for her friend rather than the ‘Allhammer’.

_What a dumb name. _She lamented.

She continued walking forward and past the Herald, settling at the front of the room behind the statue of an anvil. Jester felt a warm buzz and spotted a dull green glow at her fingertips, and smirked to herself. The Tiefling pretended to pray and waited until the room was near silent, save for the yawns coming from the guard.

Glancing back, Jester saw her opportunity present itself and stood up, pulling out her paints.

Dipping several brushes in different paints, Jester scribbled hearts and even hid some dicks in the corners of the anvil, making sure to hide them from plain view. Though the dicks were subtle, Jester decided to make the hearts easy to spot, and even added some spare sequins she brought from Nicodranas. In a spot similar to where the dicks were, Jester wrote ‘the Traveler was here,’ making sure to keep the writing as plain-looking as possible instead of her usual handwriting.

Screwing her paints shut and drying out her brushes, Jester pulled two pamphlets from her satchel and peeked over the statue, making sure no one was watching her. She placed it onto the anvil, admiring the image of the Traveler’s symbol and his familiar hood, as well as invitational words to worship him.

Jester turned around and pulled her own hood up, staring at the guard standing at the doorway.

In her disguise, she sent a big smile the guard’s way before cutting his eyeline off and changing back to her normal form. As she neared an alleyway she heard the Herald yell out and started tasking the guard to create a search for an old woman. With haste, Jester made her way back to the Pillow Trove.

Sneaking back into her room, Jester let out a sigh of relief and dropped her bag of paints onto the floor, looking up to lock eyes with her friend.

“That was wonderful, Jester.” he whispered, wiping away streaks of paint on her cheek.

“You think so?”

“Why wouldn’t I have enjoyed a good prank?” he guided her to the bed where Beau lay. “You should get some rest soon, you’ve been busy as of late.”

Jester nodded and laid down next to Beau.

“I have something big to announce soon, but I don’t want you too tired for it.”

The Tiefling smiled at his words and fell asleep.

.

.

.

Sunlight hit Jester’s eyes as she woke and sitting up, she saw Beau entering their room with two trays, stacked with bacon and pastries.

“What time is it?” she yawned out.

“It’s only ten-ish, so don’t start jumping around yet.” Beau said, placing the tray of pastries on Jester’s lap. “You’re lucky you get to order complimentary breakfast without judgment, because anywhere else someone would be side-eyeing the amount of sugar on these things.”

Shoveling a doughnut into her mouth, Jester mumbled, “Thanks!”

The two ate in silence as Jester pulled out _Tusk Love, _whispering some of the phrases and dialogue loud enough for Beau to hear. Oddly enough, her friend didn’t seem to enjoy the book, and she could’ve sworn Beau exited the room to ‘get more water’ just as the steamy parts were reached.

Jester shrugged off her roommate’s discomfort and continued reading, reaching the halfway point of the book. As much as she enjoyed picking out the book, it didn’t seem to hold up to her expectations and her crush on Oskar the Chastity’s Nook employee dwindled. Jester started to understand Beau’s lack of interest in the book, and by the time she arrived back with a pitcher of water, the Tiefling had put away the book in her bag.

“I thought you were gonna read that for the rest of the morning.” Beau remarked, pouring some water for both of them.

“I changed my mind.” Jester paused. “Did I tell you yet?”

“Tell me…?” the monk trailed, brow raised.

“The crazy shit I did last night!”

Beau chuckled, nearly choking on her water.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I pranked the Allhammer, or whatever his stupid name is.”

The monk narrowed her eyes, asking, “You pranked a god?”

“Yeah.” Jester pulled out her paints and pamphlet. “It was super cool, you should’ve seen what I did, I painted that anvil of his full of dicks. And hearts. And more dicks.”

“You vandalized a temple of a deity? How are you not in jail?”

Jester waggled her eyebrows and cast Disguise Self, turning back into the old woman she was last night.

Beau nodded in reluctant approval.

“…Spells. Of course.”

“Don’t worry, Beau! They couldn’t have known it was me.”

“Just be careful with your pranks, Jes.” Beau handed her roommate a tissue. “The empire’s pretty harsh about that kind of stuff, especially-”

The monk cut herself off before she exposed her mission.

“Especially because?”

“Especially…because…the Allhammer’s super important here.” Beau blurted.

“Oh. Okay!”

The two resumed eating their respective breakfasts and enjoyed the rest of their day wandering the streets of Zadash, watching the Crownsguard attempt to find an old lady who graffitied the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Detail Notes: Yeah I rewatched the entire Allhammer prank y'all.
> 
> If you wanna, leave a comment or share, but you're never gonna be forced to do so.


	10. hupperdook

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are my fellow beaujesters feeling after episode 85? I think I've mostly recovered but I'm still a little surprised that I didn't hallucinate what happened.
> 
> Ch. 9 Summary: Jester is informed that the reason The Traveler called her outside was to play a prank on a certain temple dedicated to the Allhammer. After, the Traveler tells her that he has an announcement to share with her soon, but tells her to take some rest. Jester wakes up the next morning to Beau bringing in their breakfast, and while Jester initially intends to read Tusk Love, she puts it aside and shares with Beau her prank.

While Beau and Jester enjoyed their time in Zadash, they were far more excited to visit Hupperdook than to stay at the Pillow Trove. They set out on Haystack’s back, spending weeks on the road. The two only stopped to rest, eat, buy supplies, and increasingly, buy coats and gloves.

Jester remembers giggling when Beau first put a coat on, her form shifting from one of a monk to one of a comfy-looking sandman. (She knew that for people like Beau, sandmen didn’t exist, instead, weird versions that were called ‘snowmen’).

One afternoon, while resting on Jester’s lap, Beau couldn’t keep her eyes off her friend, who was currently occupied with finishing Tusk Love. Jester didn’t seem too excited to finish it, though.

Beau stared at Jester, her freckles darker than usual. She brushed stray hairs from Jester’s face, stopping when her hand touched something cold. Tracking the source, Beau examined Jester’s necklace. She never really paid any attention to it, but at a closer glance, it was worn. She’d never seen the symbol before - a simple doorway to the horizon.

“What are you staring at, Beau?” Jester whispered, careful not to startle her friend.

“Your medallion.”

Jester shut her book and looked at her friend in the eye, asking, “Do you want to know about the Traveler?”

“Yeah.” Beau sat up and shifted herself to sit across from Jester. “I didn’t know about him before I met you.”

“He’s super powerful!” Jester narrowed her gaze. “And he gave me all the magic you won’t let me use on you.”

Beau sighed and motioned for Jester to continue.

“Fine. Well, he’s been my friend since I was a kid, and we kinda grew up together.”

The monk cocked her head at the melancholy in Jester’s voice, questioning, “Were you best friends or something?”

“Yeah. You’re a close second though. But he’s been busy getting other followers, so I don’t really talk to him like I used to.”

“Have you met other followers?”

“Nope, but one day I will, I’m sure of it.”

“I’d be a disciple of yours, maybe you’d get more power too.” Beau joked, playfully nudging Jester’s shoulder.

“You would?”

“I…” Beau trailed as she looked into Jester’s eyes. “I would.”

The Tiefling smiled and took Beau into a tight hug, only letting go when Haystack neighed.

.

.

.

The rumors that Beau heard about Hupperdook seemed to be fake at the duo’s arrival. Yet as the two settled into their bed at night, the energy of the city seemed to magnify. Soon enough cheers and music were blaring outside _and_ inside the Blushing Tankard. Beau and Jester shot up, glancing at each other with excited energy before racing down the stairs.

While the two were not expecting the rumors to be as accurate as they were, they settled into its society easily. Tankards of ale and all sorts of other booze stacked onto their table and Beau soon had a buzz in her head and heat in her cheeks.

Beau leaned over to her friend.

“Jes…let’s have a fight.”

“You want to-” a hiccup came from Jester. “to fight?”

“Hell y-hell yeah, just hand to hand, y’know?”

“Okay!” Jester stood up and tugged Beau with her, raising her fists.

The inn settled and focused their attention on the two, a collective breath being held while an improvised ring was created with the bodies of the clients.

Beau threw the first punch, barely avoiding Jester’s shield and hitting her in the shoulder, drawing out a slurred groan from her, before another punch hit Jester’s stomach. The monk rolled her shoulders and hit twice more both landing and causing a small nose bleed in her friend.

“Holy fuck, Beau!”

Jester narrowed her eyes and launched herself at Beau, landing her punch and casting Inflict Wounds. While her vision was blurred, she could tell various veins in Beau’s arms, shoulders, and neck popped, spurting some blood outward. Jester winced at her friend’s pain, only relieved when Beau grinned with a cut lip.

“The fuck, Jes?”

Beau, in drunken frustration, let loose blow after blow, missing or hitting Jester’s shield but not making any progress on her current enemy.

Jester yelped at each blow, relieved when Beau missed. She tried to cast Inflict Wounds once more, but missed, her eyes widening.

More missed blows were traded between the two, their drunken states hindering their usual performances. The crowd remained indifferent, their cheers filling the space and deafening the two. They started hearing coins clatter to the ground, and soon their fatigue was catching up to Beau and Jester.

Beau wiped away some blood and gave it all she had, laying into Jester. Her knuckles cracked across her friend’s temple, and she froze as Jester swayed and her eyes rolled to the back to her head. Jester started collapsing.

“Fuck.” she muttered.

The monk rushed to Jester’s side, catching her just before her head hit the floor. Beau lay Jester’s arm across her shoulders and pulled her friend forward. Jester, while somewhat unconscious, nuzzled herself into the crook of Beau’s neck. Beau sighed, ignoring the (albeit confused) jeers and coins being thrown their way, and continued back to their room.

“Sorry, Jes.”

Beau tucked Jester into their bed and lay beside her, the alcohol running through her veins being too much for her consciousness, and nestled beneath Jester’s head, leaning into her friend’s neck.

.

.

.

Jester felt a gentle palm on her shoulder and turned towards it, keeping her eyes shut.

“Beau? Why did you wake me up, I was so comfy.” she mumbled, trying to lean into her palm.

“Have you forgotten all about me already, Jester?” a voice whispered. “I thought we were close.”

The Tiefling blinked her eyes open and stared at the hood in front of her, before feeling a nugget of warmth in her chest.

“I have a proposal.” he offered, a smile appearing from the hood’s shadow.

“What is it?” Jester asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“How about you do another prank on a certain…Tinkertop?”

Jester beamed and gathered her paints and exited the room, leaving her side of the bed undone.

.

.

.

Beau felt a someone shake her to consciousness.

“Jes?” Beau mumbled. “I thought we talked about waking me up like that.”

A rush of cold found itself on Beau’s face and neck, and the monk shot up, opening her eyes.

“The fuck-”

Zeenoth raised a brow and tossed the tankard behind himself.

“What are you doing here?”

“I suggest you find your friend, as per Dairon’s request.” a cocky smirk drew across his lips. “Afterwards she wants to have a chat with you.”

Beau started muttering all the curses she knew under her breath, even sprinkling in some Deep Speech curses as she put her hair up and rushed out of her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still reeling over episode 85 a little.
> 
> Detail Notes: I based this fight on the bar fight Beau and Jester had in (I think?) The Gentleman's bar way back in the early episodes. Also, the two automatically assumed that the other was waking them because they'd gotten used to each other a lot by this point.
> 
> As always, please share and/or comment if you'd like, but you're never under any obligation!


	11. isolation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I was a bit late in uploading this chapter, I was binging TDP lmao.
> 
> Ch. 10 Summary: The blue duo head for Hupperdook, and upon arrival, its rumors appear fake. However, when the night comes both Beau and Jester join the party. After a friendly fight, they pass out and are awakened. Jester is awoken by the Traveler. Beau is woken up by Archivist Zeenoth.

The first thing that came to Jester’s attention was the heat and pulsing in her wrists, bound together by metal that wasn’t entirely natural. The next thing that did was the darkness of her cell. The third thing was how the air in the room didn’t fill her lungs as much as it should have, and her mind started racing in panic.

Jester pulled back from her position in the middle of the cell, trying to stand up. Only reaching kneeling height, the pain in her wrists grew, and her darkvision picked up on the chain tying her to the floor.

Looking around, Jester spotted a gnome at the entrance of her cell, watching her with a sleepy expression.

“…Hello?”

“Hm?”

“Where am I?”

A snort came from the woman’s direction.

“Gearhold prison.”

Jester’s breath picked up in pace as she furrowed her brows in thought. This wasn’t good. Sitting down more comfortably, the Tiefling listed off things she could do to get herself out of this gods damned cell. Spell after spell raced through her mind as the walls of the room pressed into her mind, growing smaller and smaller with each breath.

Amidst the spells in her head, the image of Beau appeared.

Smiling to herself, Jester began muttering the arcane words to Sending and fixed her thoughts on her friend. From nights beneath the stars to ones in bed reading books, Jester’s panic stilled, even if it was for a second.

“Oi.” a metal clang rang through the room, disrupting Jester’s thoughts.

“Huh?”

“Don’t cast anything, missy.” another lazy clang. “It’s not like you could with those on, anyway.”

Jester looked down at her hands, void of any familiar glow. Small trickles of blood poured down from her wrists and into her palms.

The Tiefling muttered, “Shit.”

Jester’s body tensed once more, the pressure of the room closing in, and her breaths became shallow. She played with the metal on her wrists and with the chain connected to it, much to her guard’s chagrin.

“Gods, can you stop playing with that?”

“With what?” Jester asked, covering her breathlessness with an air of innocence.

“Fuckin’-look, do you want something to do?”

Jester nodded, a friendly smile drawing across her face.

“I’m not taking those off.”

Jester deflated a little but inched closer to the woman.

“Do you have chalk?” at the woman’s brow-raising, Jester pointed at the floor. “To draw.”

“Fine.”

Jester scribbled scenes she imagined from the various novels she read, but every image of the love interest slowly turned into Beau’s cocky smirk and her familiar clothes. Beau would come soon enough. Jester would just have to ignore the shadows and the pounding in her chest for a little bit. That’s all.

.

.

.

She doesn’t remember falling asleep, but upon waking up, Jester saw that she was alone. No guard, and no Beau.

A hand gently pressed her head into its shoulder, a warm hug that pushed the feeling of the cold away.

“Jester, my dear,” The Traveller paused. “what happened?”

“You were there. I messed up.”

While the tightness in her chest faded, there was another in her throat, and her vision blurred. Quiet shushes came from the hood next to her.

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have told you about that prank.”

Jester bit her lip and tried to stop her tears from falling. She failed.

“It was _so _easy, I don’t know how I-”

“It’s alright, Jester. You’ll get out of here, and you won’t have to be in such a drab space.”

“How do you know? I spent so long in my room back in Nicodranas.”

A hesitant sound came from the shadows, before a whisper came, “Your mother and I were able to get you out of there, didn’t we?”

“My momma’s still back home, though.”

“I know. But you won’t have to stay here for too long.”

Jester shifted away from her friend and hugged her knees, playing with the remainder of her chalk, barely anything but a palm of dust.

“If it makes you feel any better, your friend is coming.”

“Beau would’ve already been here if she…cared.” she choked out, tossing her chalk to the floor and hugging herself tighter.

No response.

.

.

.

It could’ve been the next day, but Jester wasn’t sure.

She spent a good chunk of the day humming to herself, annoying her guard, Yorehilde.

Jester hummed songs her mother sang to her, or songs that her mom sung for everyone else. They were all catchy enough. She hummed songs from the circus she attended with Beau, and she hummed every other song she knew.

On occasion, the Traveller would join her humming when Yorehilde was asleep, harmonizing with her.

When what was probably 3 hours of humming passed, a blunt poke to her side shut her up for the rest of the day.

The tightness in her chest still pulsed, and her wrists felt like they were wearing down to the bone.

.

.

.

Jester got another stick of chalk. It was the only thing that slowed her mind down while simultaneously stopping her from singing all of the songs she knew again.

She drew the hood of her friend, as well as his symbol on the floor. She drew his familiar smile and drew parodies of the other gods, making sure to make the Allhammer look extra dumb. Chuckling to herself, she drew Ioun and her symbol.

From Ioun she drew the Cobalt Soul’s symbol, as well as the various marks from Beau’s sash. Drawings of monk iconography shifted to Beau. She sketched a familiar back, scarred and sun-weathered.

_ Gods, why does this one look so much better than the one I drew in her sketchbook months ago?_

Jester knew Beau’s muscles were angled and harsh, but the woman who had them always seemed to relax them when they looked into each other’s eyes. Even when Beau was bleeding out from a fight, she’d still refuse healing and only relaxed when Jester was safe. The tension in her body only relaxed when she was in Jester’s arms.

The Tiefling cursed to herself and remembered that Beau probably moved on. After all, she _was _itching to keep moving on from Trostenwald until she got invited to the circus.

Jester didn’t get much sleep after finishing that drawing.

.

.

.

A loud clang startled Jester awake, her tired eyes barely opening wide enough to notice the metal around her wrists falling and a familiar figure rushing towards her. The warmth left her wrists and dripped down her hands.

Tears filled her vision.

“Jes? Gods, Jes-are you alright?”

“Yeah, of course I am.” Jester mumbled. The tightness in her chest weakened.

“You’re a bad liar.”

A half-conscious chuckle fell from Jester’s mouth.

“I’m a really good liar, Beau.”

A nod.

“…Sure.” Beau whispered, picking up her friend from the floor and carrying her out of the cell.

Time blurred as Beau passed through the halls and rooms of Gearhold, and when she pushed through the metal doors into the night air, she took a deep breath and stared at a green hood in the night crowd.

“I’m sorry I was so slow, Jester-”

Beau looked down to her friend, asleep and nuzzling into the crook of her neck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-The manacles are not only anti-magic, but when the person in them tries magic, they are injured.  
-The Traveler may sometimes get Jester into trouble, but he also gets her out of it. Often indirectly.  
-The remark about Jester's chalk drawing of Beau being better than the one in her sketchbook is just a wink to artists that find themselves drawing better on a scrap piece of paper than a proper sketchbook.  
-Me? Referencing the exchange between Beau and Jester after the first venture into the Happy Fun Ball (episode 45)? It's more likely than you think.


	12. reflections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm back! And only...oof 5/6 hours late? Sorry y'all I forgot.
> 
> Ch. 11 Summary: Jester is alone in a cell. An unknown number of days later, Beau is able to get her out.

Jester awoke to a hooded figure looking down on her, a gentle smile stretched across his shadowy face.

“Are you okay?” he murmured.

“Yeah.”

“You should know that you made me very proud.” the Traveller brushed Jester’s bangs aside. “Because of your prank, I’d like to have a meeting with all my other worshippers. You could be my right-hand gal.”

Tears prickled and the Tiefling smiled as wide as she could.

“Really?”

“Of course, Jester. No one else could be by my side like you could.”

Jester looked down at her wrists, bandaged with white cloth, stained with dried blood. The smallest feeling of doubt creeped at the back of her head, as the monotonous time she spent at the prison came back to her. Her breath started leaving her lungs, but before she could take a shallow breath, a steady hand placed itself on her shoulder.

The Traveller placed Jester’s head on his shoulder as he whispered, “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. If it makes it up to you, you should try casting this.”

A kiss pressed against Jester’s temple, and the knowledge of more spells came into her consciousness, and energy coursed through her veins.

A snap echoed through the room and a decently-sized spider came into existence, hissing at Jester. Gloved hands supported Jester, and without knowing, she recited the new spell. As the spider lunged towards her bed, Jester finished the spell and as it reached inches away from her face, a puff of pink smoke took its place, and a chuckle came from her side.

“Holy shit!”

“Keep concentrating for a few more seconds, and it’ll be gone from here for a good while.”

“This is so cool!” Jester turned to her friend and pulled him into a tight hug. “Thank you.”

As her hug lingered, the corporeal nature of his body faded, and Jester was left hugging the air. She couldn’t help the few tears that threatened to come out at his sudden disappearance.

“Jes? Oh, you’re up.” Beau spat, sitting up from the bed next to the Tiefling in question.

“Hi, Beau.”

Beau opened her mouth and shut it, taking a moment to think her next words through.

“I’m sorry about taking so long, it took a lot of bribing-” the monk stopped at Jester’s expression, covered by her bangs. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Jester adjusted the bandages on her wrists, keeping her eyes locked onto the bedsheets and nowhere else.

“I can change those, if you want.”

Jester nodded.

Beau held her friend’s hands and laid them in her lap, undoing the shoddy knot she made the evening before. Pulling the cloth off, Beau froze at the sight. While it looked bruised and sensitive, it was nowhere near the amount of damage last night, and there were no gashes to be found. Beau kept her eyes locked on her friend’s wrists.

“He healed it.”

“Who?”

“The Traveler.”

Beau’s gaze broke from Jester’s wrists to her medallion, where a worn-down archway hung from her neck, encrusted with little gems of different colors.

“I read about him when I was looking for you. A random guy told me to, in fact it was same guy who helped me get your bribe.” Beau ran her thumbs against the inside of Jester’s forearms. “Are you sure he’s…square?”

Jester pulled her arms out of Beau’s hands.

“I’m fine. He’s fine.” Jester stared at the medallion hanging from her neck. “He was there when you weren’t, Beau.”

“Jes I told you-”

“I thought you wouldn’t leave me alone again.”

Beau opened her mouth to speak but shut it.

“You might not like him but he was there for me when you weren’t. He was in my cell right next to me.”

Beau stood up and kept her eyes locked onto the medallion, muttering, “You left first. I was right by your side, and when I was sleeping, you left!” Beau ran a shaky hand through her hair. “I was trying to stay by your side, but you _ran_.”

Their visuals of each other blurred as Jester’s test tightened and Beau’s throat constricted.

Jester stood up and pushed her way past Beau and left the room. She walked through the hallways of the Blushing Tankard, entering the busy streets. She choked out familiar words and stepped through a doorway, exiting onto the roof of the inn. She hugged herself and stared out at the city below.

She hurt Beau. She always hurt Beau, didn’t she? She was the reason Beau got knocked out by the monster in the circus. She was the reason Beau nearly died at Alefield. She was the reason Beau thought that she ran away from her. She was the reason for her mom being alone now. It was why her mom always told her to stay in her room.

Jester prayed that her mom didn’t feel the way Beau did when she left.

Jester bit her lip and sobbed into her knees. Her chest hurt.

_ God. It makes sense now._

_._

_._

_._

She didn’t keep track of the time that passed. Jester imagined that each clang from the blacksmith near her indicated a second, but it all blurred together.

“Jes?” a gruff voice asked, as Beau pulled herself on top of the roof.

The Tiefling wiped away her tears and hid her face behind her knees. Despite the party that went on beneath them, there was a tension in the air. Rain drizzled.

“Look, I’m sorry for assuming about your god.” Beau settled beside Jester. “And I’m sorry for saying you were a bad liar, earlier.”

“I’m…sorry for getting you hurt so much.” Jester choked out, keeping her gaze trained on the streets below.

“You could never get me hurt, Jes.”

Beau moved closer to her friend.

“Look,” Beau whispered. “even if you don’t believe that, I know that cell must’ve been absolute hell for you and I don’t want you to face that alone. I know your guy was there for you, and you were right about being angry for being left alone…but I’m always gonna be here for you too.”

“Thank you, Beau.”

“’Course, Jes.”

The two sat on the roof for some time. Thirty minutes or an hour, they couldn’t tell the difference. All they saw were fireworks and cheers in the streets.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Sure.” Jester mumbled, trying to ignore how close Beau was to her.

“I called you a bad liar earlier. That was false, obviously. But I want to tell you something true, which I don’t do often because I only tell the people closest to me the truth.” Beau stated, smiling at Jester’s quickly brightening expression.

“What is it?”

“I get jealous about you sometimes. Like when you were flirting with that Oskar guy, I was super jealous.”

“You were jealous of him? I stopped having a crush on him like, a month ago, Beau.”

“Which is exactly why I decided to tell you the truth.”

Jester nudged Beau’s side repeatedly, teasing, “Did you want me to flirt with you?”

“Fuck off, Jes.” the monk chuckled out.

Jester leaned away from her friend to get a better look at her expression.

“Are you in love with me?”

The Tiefling could’ve sworn there was a moment of panic in her friend’s eyes. Beau mulled over the question for a few moments, as the rain subsided and more fireworks went off.

“Well…in a way.”

“Pff, okay.” Jester mumbled, staring at the city below them and tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

The Tiefling took a deep breath.

“I have a secret too.”

“Hm?”

“It’s really hard for me to understand being angry and sad. I feel it a lot but it always feels out of control, you know?” Jester looked at her friend. “I do get angry.”

“Yeah. I promise I’ll be there when you feel like that too.” Beau gestured at the evening sky. “When it feels out of control.”

.

.

.

The two were barely awake enough for Jester to cast them a small portal back into their room later that night. The two collapsed onto the bed and they assumed their usual positions, tucked beneath a blanket and in each other’s embrace.

Half-conscious, Beau muttered, “Love ya, Jes.”

A heat spread across the Tiefling’s cheeks, but thankfully, her friend’s eyes were shut.

“I love you too, Beau.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty so tests and exams are coming up so I have to hustle and leave this fic for a bit. Don't worry though! The next part will be uploaded on December 21st, at 3 P.M. EST. 
> 
> I'm not abandoning this fic anytime soon.
> 
> Thank you as always for reading! Comments and sharing is always appreciated, but I'm never gonna force you to. Thank you again for reading!


	13. inebriated altercation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's late! I was unexpectedly busy today, is all.
> 
> Ch. 12 Summary: Beau and Jester speak about what happened, and grow to understand each other's perspectives a little more.

Beau walked back towards the table that Jester was drawing at, carrying a cup of milk and some ale. She was trying to forget the look on the bartender’s face when asking for Jester’s drink, but she felt like his judgmental eyes were still on her.

The monk settled into her stool across from Jester, sliding the milk just short of the paper she was drawing on.

“What’re you drawing, Jes?”

The Tiefling barely looked up before downing the milk in one gulp.

“I’m making a gift for the Traveler, and also coming up with poster ideas.”

Beau leaned over the table, muttering, “Poster? What for?”

“Oh you know, I’m just going to be making these for a pretty cool thing he’s going to be hosting.” Jester bit her lip, erasing a line she drew. “I can finally meet his other worshippers.”

“…Right. Nothing about this feels sketchy at all, not even close to cult-ish.”

“Of course not, Beau! We’re not going to make a sacrifice or anything, we’re probably just going to hang out. The best part is that I’m going to be his right-hand gal!”

Beau raised a brow.

Jester leaned forward, teasing, “If you want you could be my right-hand gal too, and I could probably get you special access to whatever I’m doing.”

“Jes I…” Beau trailed, watching her friend’s expression fall. “…I will be your right-hand gal.”

Jester jumped up and hugged Beau from across the table, narrowly avoiding the ale. Beau tensed, but hugged back, trying to pull away until she realized that Jester had a death grip on her.

“People are staring.”

“Let them! I’m just happy you’re gonna stick around for Traveler-Con.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. I just want us to stick together.” Jester remarked, pulling away and returning to her sketch pad, trying to cast aside her old worries.

.

.

.

Beau kept her eyes trained on Jester’s expression, amazed at how concentrated she looked. Each quirk of the brow, or sticking out of the tongue made her heart…soften. If that was the right word for it.

After finishing the rest of her ale, there was a slight buzz in her head and she knew Jester would have to help her get back to their room. Beau scooted her seat back, and stumbled off her stool.

A firm hand shoved her back onto the stool.

“How much gold for me to take her off your hands?” a voice spat, the air growing heavy with the scent of alcohol.

“She’s not a…you piece of shit.” Beau slurred, leaning back to size up the human in front of her.

Jester looked up from her paper and watched a crowd form, centered on the three of them. Glancing at her friend, she knew Beau would barely be able to fight him. Looking at the stairs to the rooms, Jester began to reach for Beau’s hand, stopping when the monk threw a punch which sent the man into the crowd.

Cheers and noises raised in volume, as Beau slid off her stool and stood, raising her fists. The man stood up, wiping blood from his lip, and grinning with yellowed, crooked teeth.

“You want a lesson?” he yelled out, stomping towards Beau. “’Cause I’ll give you one.”

“Fuck off.”

Beau met him halfway, dodging his fist and undercutting him in his stomach, sending bits of bile onto the tavern floor. The crowd made groans of sympathy, while moving back to give them space.

Jester watched, preparing her _Spiritual Weapon_ spell if things went too far.

The man backed away, furrowing his brows and launching himself back towards Beau, feinting and tackling her to the ground. The crowd reacted as Beau’s back hit the floor, and in seconds he was on top of her, pummeling her face with his fists.

“Take it outside!” the bartender yelled, putting away his jar of mildly curdled milk.

Jester rolled her eyes and finished her spell, using her giant lollipop to send the strange man through the doors of the Blushing Tankard. Looking back to where Beau was, she found an empty space, and the doors swung open again, a blue blur pushing through it.

Beau entered the muddied streets of Hupperdook, spotting the man next to a pile of horse dung. Laughing to herself, Beau picked him up and tossed him into the middle of the street, tugging off her robe and tightening her wraps.

“Tell me what the lesson was, again?” she taunted, readying her fists.

The monk couldn’t refute the fact that she was basically half-blind after the beating he gave her, and the fact that it was dark didn’t help her much as he stood up and threw an empty barrel at her. Of course, it was easy to dodge, but a kick to the knee and a punch to the gut sent Beau onto her back, skidding into the mud.

“Gods, what the hell are other humans getting that I don’t?” Beau groaned, getting to her knees in time for a kick to be sent into her chest.

Beau felt the air leave her lungs and numbness fill her side as she lay on the ground, before searing pain came from the her other side. She cursed to herself and curled up, trying to disperse the blow as best she could before she heard a crack and felt no more hits.

Jester stood above her, tired, but worried and picked Beau up. A pink door opened behind her and the Tiefling carried Beau bridal-style into their bedroom setting her down. When the door shut, Jester put the last of her spells into Beau, healing some, but not all of her wounds.

When she realized her last spell was about to be used, Jester lifted Beau onto their bed, changing her muddied clothes into sleepwear, and kissed the monk’s forehead, casting the spell. It only healed some of the swelling around Beau’s face, but it was better than nothing.

Beau smiled as her consciousness slipped away.

.

.

.

“Is she coming with you to the meeting, Jester?”

“Yep.” Jester whispered, wrapping cloth around Beau’s muscled, but bruised torso.

“If she does cause a fight, I hope it will be more for entertainment rather than to protect you.” he chuckled. “You held yourself better than she did, after all.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll be by my side.”

“In what way?”

Jester stayed silent.

“Just to make sure there’s no fights, like you said.”

A chuckle came from beneath his familiar hood as the Traveler faded away into the shadows of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two...yeah.gif
> 
> Thank you for reading! Share and comment if you'd like, but I'm never gonna force you to. Next chapter will be the last for the year, and I'll be taking (another) week-long break. Ik it's annoying but I just wanna have a stockpile of chapters to be at the ready just in case I don't have time to write in the future.


	14. healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being late on this! I had a session today.
> 
> Ch. 13 Summary: Beau gets into a bar fight and Jester comes to her aid. The cleric receives a symbol of the Traveler to give to Beau when it is time.

Beau woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon, a splitting headache, and pain in her ribs.

At least one of those things were nice.

“Wow, Beau. I thought you were in a coma for how long you slept.”

The monk rolled her eyes and pawed at the bacon on their bedside table, wincing when her torso protested.

“How long did I sleep?”

Jester took a couple moments to think before saying, “Probably 12 hours.”

“That’s more sleep than I ever got in the Cobalt Soul.” Beau sent a gentle smile and glanced between Jester and the bacon. “I’ll take it.”

Jester placed the plate of bacon in her friend’s lap, returning to her sketch pad.

“Thanks for patching me up, by the way. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Beau mumbled, her voice going softer than she intended.

“Of course! But you still don’t want my healing spells, do you?”

Beau shook her head, shoveling the bacon in her mouth as Jester nodded, continuing a sketch of a little beehive.

It took about thirty minutes before Jester found herself tired of drawing. She had _Tusk Love_, but she could put off reading it for another week if she wanted.

Beau was also annoyed of being unable to move more than an inch without a sharp pain in her side.

“Jes, what’s the Traveler like?”

“You really want to be my right hand huh?” Jester teased, repeatedly raising her brow and nudging Beau’s arm.

“I’m gonna be honest, I’m being your right-hand for you, not him.” Beau paused and nudged back. “But maybe I can understand why you love these pranks.”

“I already told you, but I’ve known him since forever. He’s super cool…and he’s super good at helping me with pranks…and yeah.”

“So you’ve always liked pranks?”

“Of course!” Jester said, her face falling.

Beau took notice, and put down her plate of bacon, leaning a bit to try and meet Jester’s gaze. The Tiefling let her bangs hang in front of her face, avoiding her friend.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, totally.”

Jester brushed away some of her tears and put on a smile, turning towards her friend. Beau kept her eyes focused on Jester’s face, silently telling her it was okay to not be walled in. The Tiefling sighed and leaned on Beau’s shoulder, staring at the bacon in her lap.

“I guess there was one prank I wish I didn’t do.” Jester whispered, biting her lip. “I don’t blame the Traveler, but he told me to prank one of my mom’s clients and she had to get me snuck out of Nicodranas. Luckily she had the help of the Traveler, but I wish I didn’t have to leave her alone.”

Beau pursed her lips, stopping herself from saying anything that popped into her mind of what the situation sounded like.

“He sounds like a nice guy.” she deadpanned. “…Gods I have to get better at sounding nice.”

Jester chuckled out, “No, Beau! Your voice is really pretty like it is.”

Beau cursed herself for her heart leaping into her throat, but she cleared it and stayed focused on the conversation.

“How about you, Beau? Were you always a badass?”

“I wish I could say I was. But you know, I didn’t get sent to the Cobalt Soul for no reason.”

Jester cocked her head to the side, intent on listening to Beau.

“Why did you go?”

“I told you I’ve worked with some skeevy motherfuckers before, right?” at Jester’s nod, Beau continued. “One day I was caught by my dad for smuggling his wine, and that got me a one-way ticket to the Soul, where I met that elf monk, Dairon.”

Beau felt another leap in her chest at Jester’s smile, though her mind jumped straight to Dairon’s words.

.

.

.

Over the next two weeks Beau reluctantly had Jester buy some books for the two of them to read after they realized that Beau’s ribs would take a while to heal.

While Jester was out, Beau rested her eyes, her body still overall tired from the fight and from healing itself. Nearly-silent footsteps entered the room.

Beau opened her eyes, expecting for Jester to be stumbling in with a pile of books in her hands but before her was Dairon, arms crossed and eyes trained on Beau. Dairon looked as tired as Beau felt, but there was still an edge of stern intent in her eyes.

“…Are you just gonna stand there or what?”

“What happened to your mission?” Dairon stepped closer to Beau’s bed. “None of the libraries have gotten any information from you in a month, and by extension, neither have I.”

Beau rolled her eyes, mumbling, “If you haven’t noticed, I’m kinda beat to shit right now.”

“What happened to that friend of yours I helped pardon? She often seemed eager to heal you.” Dairon asked.

“How’d you know that she can-”

“I’m an Expositor, Beauregard. I know these things.” Dairon took another step. “Where did she go?”

“She’s just out right now. Look, you told me not to get close, so I’m not getting close. I’m not being reliant on her healing.”

A look of almost-approval washed over Dairon’s face, and Beau felt proud.

“Fine. That’s besides the point anyway. Stay on track, these defacements have seen an increase.”

Beau attempted to get a word out, but her ribs sent a pulse throughout her body and Dairon was out the door.

At Jester’s return, Beau swiped the stack and filtered through them before finding the book she was looking for and read the title, making sure it was the one.

“What book is it?” Jester asked, reaching towards Beau’s hand.

Beau grinned and handed it over, reading it out-loud.

_“Gentleman Jack_, of course. Best book I’ve read in a while.” the monk announced, leaning on Jester’s shoulder and listening intently to her reading.

“Oh really?” Jester asked.

“Yeah, really. I don’t really agree with her economic pursuits and how rich people _love_ being rich, but reading this when I was younger felt _right_.”

Jester could admit that this wasn’t the usual format she liked reading, but it seemed like whoever wrote this took some creative liberty in Anne Lister’s life, making every detail seem larger than life.

Yet, Jester couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity in reading the entries. The feeling of a barrier between Anne’s interest and herself. The feeling like breaking said barrier would ruin everything. What stood out to her the most was the feeling of falling for another woman was natural, and that it was born with her. It felt _right_.

Jester understood why Beau liked the book so much. But she knew that it was just coincidence that she felt the same was as Anne. It was coincidence, is all.

Beau soon fell asleep on Jester’s shoulder, but the Tiefling still couldn’t shake how right the book felt.

.

.

.

“Jes, do you think it’s time to change this stuff?” Beau asked, gesturing towards her ribs.

“I guess so.”

Jester put her sketch of Beau down on the bed, retrieving some wraps and waiting for Beau to get comfortable.

Standing at the side of the bed, Jester redressed Beau’s ribs, having to somewhat hug her as she pulled the dressing around her friend’s torso. Beau tried her best to remain calm, but did feel like her heart rate went up every time Jester’s cheek brushed her own.

Steeling her composure, Beau turned her attention elsewhere and spotted Jester’s sketchbook. It was a drawing of her own back.

“What’s that?” Beau blurted, covering her mouth too late.

“Hm? That’s a drawing of you.” Jester paused to hold it up. “I drew it when we first met, but I can’t get to seem your back right.”

Beau nodded slowly, trying not to make her expression seem giddy.

“Definitely, yeah, I get you. I mean once this gets healed over I can always…you know, take the shirt off and help you not work from memory.” Beau wanted to smack herself. “I mean-obviously you don’t have to but sometimes it’s best to work with the source.”

Beau wanted Ioun herself to come down and smack her for how stupid she sounded.

But Jester smiled.

“Yeah! I think I’ll do that, Beau.”

.

.

.

Because Beau found herself sleeping more often, Jester also found herself talking to the Traveler more.

“Jester, do you remember the announcement I had to share?”

“Yes, are you going to tell me?”

A chuckle came from the hood.

“Of course.” the Traveler handed Jester another symbol of his. “Our meeting is in a month. I’m hoping everything goes well, but if your…_friend_ is still willing to come, hand her this.”

“Why’d you say ‘friend’ like that?”

“Hm? No reason.”

A smile emerged from the hood as it disappeared, leaving Jester in the midnight darkness, excitedly holding her friend’s symbol in her hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh some downtime? Yep.
> 
> Detail Notes: Gentleman Jack. When I first came up with this fic idea, the show was wrapping its season up, and I figured, "this isn't even close to time-appropriate, but it's gay so it exists as a novel"
> 
> You know how I operate. Comments and shares are always appreciated, but thank you for sticking around this long (and for 1.5k hits?? and nearly a 100 kudos???)


	15. onward and southward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of the new decade...4 days in and it's already wild. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
> 
> Ch. 14 Summary: Beau and Jester spend time together while Beau's wounds heal. They read books, talk, and when Beau's asleep, Jester learns that Traveler-con is in a month.

It’s the middle of the night when Beau is awoken and hoisted out of bed. 

Annoyed, Beau attempts to speak out but is stopped by a hand on her mouth and goggles being placed in her hand. Squeezing it on, Beau bites her tongue, because Dairon is the one keeping her mouth shut.

“Let’s speak in the alleyway.”

Beau follows their lead. Glancing back before exiting her room, Beau made sure that Jester was asleep.

The alleyway is dim, but Beau’s goggles highlighted Dairon’s form, leaning against the Inn’s outer wall. They pushed themself off the wall and stood straight, crossing their arms.

“What?”

“New information for your task.” Dairon paused, glancing behind Beau to make sure the coast was clear. “Their meeting is in a month.”

“That helps me a lot.” Beau deadpanned.

Dairon rolled their eyes, pulling out a small brooch-an archway with a horizon within-and placing it into Beau’s hands, making sure that Beau maintained a tight grip on it.

“We were also able to find one of their symbols. Curiously enough, one of our monks found it amongst other symbols being smuggled. No symbols belonged to a god legally worshipable in the empire.”

“Weird.” Beau mumbled, low enough for Dairon not to hear.

“It’s best we part ways here. Hopefully the next time we meet our information will lead us to our target.” Dairon pat Beau’s shoulder. “Until then, don’t die.”

“Of course-”

The shadows grew long and Dairon was gone.

.

.

.

Beau tried her best to sleep after talking to her mentor but found it difficult to do so. By the time her eyelids grew heavy, light was peering into her room, waking her up. 

Groaning to herself, the monk put away the symbol handed to her, tucking it away in her notebook. Jester curled into her, pulling her arm over her own shoulders. Beau tried her best not to have her friend too close, after all, she didn’t want Jester to be weirded out when she woke up.

“Jes?”

“Hm?”

“You awake?”

An indignant noise came from Jester as she sat up and wiped her eyes, mumbling, “I am now.”

“Could you do me a favor?”

.

.

.

Jester knew it was wrong to ogle at people. That’s why she tried to keep her eyes focused as far away from any inch of Beau’s torso as she could. Whispering healing spells to herself, she drew dim green sigils into the air, casting it onto Beau’s torso. At least she hoped it was Beau’s torso.

“...Jester.”

“Yes, Beau?”

“I know you saw me in that fight.” Beau chuckled. “I wasn’t kicked in the chest.”

Looking down, Jester found her hands hovering over Beau’s bosom, inches away from tight blue fabric. Jester tugged her hands away and keeping her eyes off of Beau’s body.

“It’s okay, it’s been a month.” Beau murmured, trying to hide a smile.

Jester let Beau take hold of her hands and guide them onto her side, right above where the intercostals would be. Jester looked up from Beau’s torso and into her eyes, freezing when she found Beau looking right back at her. She never appreciated how blue her pupils were.

Jester thanked the Traveler that she couldn’t blush.

The Tiefling shook her head and looked away, whispering her healing spells again, and sending a warm pulse from her chest into her arm, and into Beau’s torso.

“I think that’s the warmest I’ve ever felt you been.” Beau chuckled out, stretching herself.

“I’m totally warm all the time, Beau.”

“Yeah ri-” Beau stopped when she found Jester pouting. “there’s no point in arguing.”

.

.

.

The two decided that it was time to keep going. They went through enough here.

Jester couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe the universe hated her and Beau together. Why else would they get constantly knocked around by monsters, drunk people, and prison? Admittedly, all of those things only happened once on their journey, but they were still fresh in Jester’s mind. Well, prison was.

The Tiefling blinked out of her morbid reverie as the innkeeper held out her hand.

“Are you going to pay for you and your girlfriend’s room or not?”

Jester froze. She blinked, eyes never leaving the innkeeper’s outstretched hand.

“Beau and I aren’t-”

“Miss, I don’t really care. Just pay the five silver and be on your way.”

Sorting through her bag, Jester struggled to find the five silver, and hastily placed them in the woman’s hand. The innkeeper didn’t seem conscious enough to notice how panicked Jester was, but nodded and stored the money.

“Thank you for staying at the Blushing Tankard.”

Jester exited, pulling up her green hood. She facepalmed when she noticed that the woman wasn’t lying about the inn’s name. She didn’t notice it this entire time. Did Beau? She probably was reading too far into it.

.

.

.

Jester lead Haystack while Beau sat behind her, apparently pouring through notes in her super official Cobalt Soul notebook.

“Hey Beau.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind if we go to Nicodranas next?” Jester mumbled, instantly regretting asking.

Only half paying attention, Beau answered, “Sure, I don’t really have anything else to do.” 

“Really?”

“Why wouldn’t I be on board with it?”

“Well...I mean Traveler-Con is happening down there soon, and I also want to check up on my mama again.” Jester glanced back to her friend, making sure they were making eye contact. “Plus you’ll get to not only meet her but be my right hand while planning the event.”

Beau looked up attentively. She figured that the right-hand thing was a half-joke. And she wasn’t sure if meeting Jester’s mom was appropriate. It’d probably come off the wrong way. 

“True.”

The monk closed her notebook over the brooch Dairon gave her before resting her chin on Jester’s shoulder.

“What ideas do you have in mind? For the event, I mean. Not introducing me to your mom.”

“I think that it’ll be super cool with a bunch of sea-themed stuff...and maybe a brochure-making activity so we can keep telling people about how cool the Traveler is…”

“You’ve never had to do this before, have you.”

“Of course I have!” Jester cracked under Beau’s judgment. “Okay, I haven’t.”

“I guess as your right hand, I’ll have to help you. I’ve been to my fair share of parties-”

“As a crime boss?”

“What? No, before that. I was never a crime boss-look, do you remember my shitty dad?”

“Oh…”

“Yeah. We can talk about planning soon. Do you mind if we stop by Zadash first? I’m thinking that the Gentleman can help us with getting to Nicodranas a little faster, and he might have some information for my...monk task.”

“Of course, Beau.”

A steady rhythm of hoof-beats and relaxed breathing took over the two women, as they continued their journey south. There was a new tension in the air. It was uncertainty, though it wasn’t just towards Traveler-Con. 

Jester’s mind was still trying to figure out why the innkeeper and the Traveler himself saw things between her and Beau that weren’t there. They were just friends.

Beau’s mind was fixated on everything Dairon had given her. Information, possible clues, and the newest addition to the evidence pile - a brooch. It was familiar. A part of her couldn’t shake that maybe this graffiti god was just fine. The Empire had a history of being...difficult with religion.

“Beau!”

The monk nearly jolted out of the saddle, almost losing her grip on Haystack’s reins.

“Yeah?”

“Before I forget, the Traveler wanted me to give you this, since you’ll be my right hand.”

Jester dangled her god’s symbol in front of Beau’s eyes. An archway with a horizon within. Jester placed the necklace around Beau’s neck, giggling at her friend’s shocked expression.

“I know the Traveler’s a big deal, but I think this necklace looks great on you.” Jester paused. “I mean I’m only looking at your back but still…”

Her friend’s voice faded into the back of her mind. Beau figured it out. _ Fuck. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ey.
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-I used they/them for Dairon this chapter 'cause we learned a while back that they use both she/her and they/them pronouns. It's not like I'm gonna alternate said pronouns every time Dairon pops up, but I'm also not just gonna use one set and never change it.
> 
> You know what I'm gonna say: some spare comments and shares fine folk, some spare comments and shares? Don't worry, it's not an obligation.


	16. a deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey! new week, new chapter!
> 
> Ch. 15 Summary: Beau receives a new piece of evidence from Dairon: a symbol of the religion she's hunting. With a new reason to press on, she asks Jester for healing and the two head southward, to reach Zadash and find a faster way of reaching Nicodranas, as Jester wants to get there soon. Jester also offers the symbol of the Traveler to Beau, for being her right-hand woman. Beau freezes in shock: the symbol Jester gives her is the same one Dairon gave.

Walking through the Interstead Sprawl of Zadash, both Beau and Jester navigated their way through its various residences and shops, looking for the Evening Nip. They had plenty of clues as to where this Gentleman holed up, it was just a matter of time until they found it.

For what was likely too many reasons to count, Beau had a sinking feeling in her stomach. The symbol of her friend’s god was tucked away behind her shirt, yet despite the chilly air, it felt like it was burning her skin. She was just nervous, is all. 

It’s not every day where your first big job for a secret organization is to hunt down your friend’s religion.

“You mind if we buy some pastries at the Meal Hearth before we meet this guy?” Beau muttered.

“It has been a while since we’ve eaten some high-quality pastries.” Jester nudged Beau’s shoulder with her own. “I bet we could both go for some bear claws right now.”

“Mhm.”

Dropping some expendable bronze and silver, the two sat down across from each other to share their bear claw, it somehow being larger than they remembered.

Jester felt like something was off with Beau. 

Beau often made remarks over anything that came to mind, like how Jester would do the same whenever pastries or love came to mind. But she’d been silent. The only time she really spoke was to offer change.

“Beau.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Beau answered, chewing on the remainder of her half of the bear claw.

Jester raised a brow, pulling the bear claw from Beau’s mouth with her own.

“What’s going on?”

Beau sighed. “You know I care about you a lot, right? Despite what Dairon says about not getting close to people, I care about you.”

“I care about you too, Beau.” Jester whispered, keeping eye contact with her friend.

Beau breathed in and sighed.

“The mission I was given by Dairon just got a huge answer.” the monk looked away from Jester’s symbol. “It’s not the end of it, by any means, but I feel like I’m not sure what to do. I feel great about cracking it, but the mission doesn’t feel right anymore.”

Jester put her hand on Beau’s, murmuring, “I feel like you should stick with what feels right in your gut. Well maybe not right now, because you just ate a lot of food...but you always know what’s right. Whatever happens, I’ll still be by your side.”

“Thank you, Jessie.”

“Of course, Beau.”

“One last thing.”

“Sure!” Jester choked out, finishing her half of the bear claw.

“Could you send a message to Dairon for me?”

.

.

.

Standing outside the Evening Nip, Jester and Beau checked twice with the various notes they’ve taken and the letter Beau swindled from Trostenwald.

“Into the unknown?”

“Into the unknown.” Beau answered.

They followed Thed’s instructions as smoothly as they could, aided by Jester’s natural charm and Beau’s familiarity with seedy underbellies of big cities.

Entering a secret area beneath the tavern, Beau and Jester find that the company they currently keep is much different than expected.

Sitting towards the back of the room, with black boots resting on top of the table was a man with slick black hair and blue skin, eyeing the duo approaching him. 

While he had a perpetual sweat, there was something unnerving about the fact that a librarian and a Tiefling walked into his domain so nonchalantly. It caused a few more drops of water across his brow than usual.

“Are you the Gentleman?” Jester asked, sitting across from him with no hesitation.

“I am.” he affirmed, taking his boots off the table and meeting Jester’s stern gaze.

“Then I believe that we can do a trade._ If _you don’t mind.” Beau continued, standing behind her friend, resting wrapped hands on Jester’s chair.

“I’m not sure about how a government’s local bookkeeper would find herself in such a place-” the man turned to Jester. “nor how a wayward traveler would be interested in the business I have...but if you have a request, we may find ourselves to become partners.”

An interested grin spread across his lips, intent on what the two’s next move.

“We need to get to Nicodranas.” Jester stated.

“If that’s all, you might as well find yourself a traveling troupe to do so. I conduct illegal business here, not charity work.”

“The next traveling troupe isn’t coming for another month. We need to get there as fast as we can.” Beau explained, occasionally glancing down at Jester.

“I see.” the man neatened his goatee and stood. “Cree, fetch the vials. I can provide you the transport you need. I do want a favor upfront, however.”

A Tabaxi joined the Gentleman’s side, planting a wooden box between the three conversing. She opened the lid to unveil various vials, some of which were filled with blood.

“Kill a man for me.”

“What?” the duo stuttered out, leaning away from their ticket to Nicodranas.

“Obviously someone gave information as to my whereabouts to you. Kill them, bring me proof, and I will grant you a way to travel southward.” he chuckled, tilting his head innocently.

Glancing at each other, the two reassured themselves with a silent agreement, before nodding to the Gentleman.

“We have a deal, then.”

Jester stood up from her chair and began to turn towards Beau before the sound of sucking teeth filled the room.

“Not so fast. My associate here needs a bit of blood.” the Gentleman tapped the open box. “We need to make sure you’re not suddenly running off, because if that happens...well you’ll become a liability.”

The Tiefling kept a calm composure but still felt uncomfortable. Baring her teeth, she ran her thumb against a fang and cut, allowing for Cree to guide a hefty amount of blood into an empty vial. Beau followed close after, instead cutting her thumb with a throwing star and allowing for Cree to do the same.

Jester and Beau turned and walked towards the entrance, reaching the threshold of the underground chamber.

“Pleasure doing business with you two. I hope you can deliver.”

A hearty laugh filled the chamber and the narrow staircase Beau and Jester exited through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaaaa cool. 
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-Yeah I had to use the CR wiki to find the names of the Interstead Sprawl and the Meal Hearth.  
-After Jester gave Beau her vote of confidence, it's safe to assume that Beau's made her decision about what she wants to do for this mission.  
-I did reference Into the Unknown from Frozen 2 (look it goes hard and i love it)  
-Oh yeah I had to go WAY back and find out Thed's name
> 
> One last final thing! I am taking another 2-week break! I know, y'all are probably tired of these breaks but school is kicking back up again and I want to get some chapters written ahead so I don't have to write and upload a chapter the same week, you know?
> 
> Anyway, as always, a comment or share is appreciated, but I'm never gonna force you so thanks for reading!


	17. homecoming pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey! I'm back! New chapter and all!
> 
> Ch. 16 Summary: Beau and Jester share a candid talk before meeting the Gentleman at the Evening Nip. There, they strike a deal with the man, in which they kill Thed, the man who gave them the location of the crime boss. The two give their blood and are set on their way.
> 
> (personal bit you can skip over: DO ANY OF Y'ALL WATCH RWBY? That finale was smth. Mixed opinions, but that's to be expected.)
> 
> (personal bitx2: [SPOILERS FOR EP 93] beau deadass was ready to sacrifice being with her family, huh. like marisha was ready to let go of beau. but also??? jester/laura with the most IQ 300 thing i've seen???)

Their task for the Gentleman is done with relative ease, but Jester noted Beau’s near-insomniac sleep schedule for the few days after they presented proof to the man.

Curled up in Jester’s arms, Beau tried her best to sleep on the vehicle they were being smuggled with, faking sleep to let her friend rest.

“Beau, I know you’re not asleep.”

A muffled, “I’m totally asleep.” came from Beau.

“We can talk about it if you want.” Jester hummed into Beau’s hair. “Or if you don’t want to...you don’t have to pretend to sleep.”

Beau sat up and shifted herself in order to face Jester, and put on her night-vision goggles.

Despite the green tint, Jester’s face looked as tired as Beau felt.

“I thought it’d be different. I mean I’ve smuggled before, but killing someone is different.”

“Oh my gosh, I never realized that.” Jester leaned forward. “I was the one who killed those Gnolls, and you were never wanted to kill that dude from the bar!”

“I thought  _ you  _ were the innocent one.”

Jester would’ve usually whipped out one of her smut books to prove Beau wrong, but she decided against it.

“It’s okay, Beau.”

The monk sent a smile her friend’s way and shifted back over to rest her head on Jester’s shoulder, listening as she sent a message to her mother. She couldn’t help another smile grow across her face when she heard the eagerness in Jester’s voice.

.

.

.

Jester stood outside the Lavish Chateau, cloaked in her green hood. She was back. She always imagined that she’d be back because her mom gave her the all-clear, but it was the Traveler that would bring her back. Jester figured she should thank him for that soon.

“This is a lot fancier than I thought it would be, Jes.” Beau muttered.

“Oh, well I mean my mom does have a lot of rich clients, so...” Jester grinned, though she knew it would be covered by her scarf. “Let’s go in, I need you to meet my mom!”

A blur of reuniting came and went, and Jester was soon in her mother’s room, hugging her as tight as she could, barely holding back tears. The warmth of her mom’s embrace was definitely one to be missed - and she missed it. A lot.

“My sapphire, you’ve come home.” Marion whispered.

“I’m sorry it’s taken so long.” Jester pulled back a little. “Is Lord Dickhead still around?”

“He is, though his search for you has lessened a bit.”

“I’m sorry momma. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“It’s okay, Jester. I’ll always be here, and I’ll always love you.” Marion whispered, pinching her daughter’s cheeks, embracing Jester once more.

The Ruby of the Sea pulled back. “Now, who was that woman you were walking with?”

.

.

.

Beau leaned against the wall opposite of the Ruby’s chamber, and opposite of a giant minotaur that was apparently Jester’s childhood friend. Beau didn’t question it. Jester was a very kind, welcoming, and frankly, perfect person. Made sense why she’d be workout buddies with Bluud.

Next thing she knew she was being dragged into the personal chambers of the Ruby of the Sea by Jester’s hand and _ holy fucking shit _ she understood how Jester was as pretty as she was.

“This is Beau!” Jester squeezed her hand. “We met in Trostenwald and basically everything I told you about, I did with her!”

Beau gulped as the towering woman took confident steps towards her, her bejeweled horns making her look like royalty.

“So you’ve kept her safe?”

“No offense, Ms. Ruby-I mean Ms. Lavorre, but your daughter’s very capable on her own, and she’s saved my ass several times.” Beau grinned unnaturally wide.

“I like her.” the Ruby whispered.

Beau let out a sigh, before her eyes locked onto her hand, still held by Jester.

“Well, Beau. I don’t know how long you’ll be with Jester in Nicodranas, but before you attend my performance, I suggest you two take a walk on the beach. It’s my understanding that the Empire doesn’t have beaches.”

Jester nodded and dragged Beau back outside, but not before giving her mom a kiss on the cheek.

.

.

.

The sun had sunk lower into the sky than when they first arrived. Jester turned back to her friend, who was wearing her red dress with a slack jaw. It would’ve been funny if Jester didn’t find heat in her cheeks at the sight.

“This is beautiful. I dunno how you’d ever want to leave.”

Jester chuckled, “That’s true, but you already know I didn’t want to.”

Beau’s face fell a little at Jester’s solemn expression. She hopped across some of the wet rocks and sat at the tallest one, trying her best to meditate. Focusing on the sound of waves, Beau created a mental beat for herself to follow.

At least until she heard grunts from behind her.

“Jes-”

“How did you get up there so easily, it’s so slippery on these things-”

Jester barely managed to stand on the second tallest rock before slipping and reaching out for Beau’s hands, which she found with no effort. She also felt her center of gravity shift, and without notice, Beau pivoted both of their bodies so that she would land on her back, and so that Jester would be cushioned from the fall.

Opening her eyes a little, Jester’s face was inches from Beau’s. She was practically pinning Beau to the beach floor.

“D-Did you want to meditate with me?”

“I wanted to ask why you just started meditating instead of talking with me, is all.”

Beau chuckled and sat up, narrowly avoiding the incoming wave from hitting her face. Jester moved from her position and helped Beau stand.

“I was just thinking about how beautiful this place is.” Beau chuckled. “And I was trying to meditate on why I said something as stupid as ‘I dunno how you’d want to leave’ like a dumbass.”

“It’s okay, Beau. One day I’ll come back here and grow old, probably selling paintings to merchants.”

“I’d like to join you on that, actually.”

The two shared glances.

“I mean-not in that way, I mean like we just stick together.”

Jester smiled and nodded.

Silence filled the space as the two stayed sitting, though only to let their toes be hit by the water. The stress of prison and the blood on their hands faded to their breathing and the crashing of the waves be on their mind.

“Jester.”

“Yes?”

“You still trust me, right? I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

“Why would I not trust you?” Jester asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach forming.

“Nothing. I just hope I can help you plan for Traveler-con well.”

Jester stood. “Holy shit, that’s right!”

.

.

.

After Marion’s performance, the duo retired in Jester’s old room, sharing her bed and brainstorming various activities and decorations for Traveler-con. 

A knock came at their door and Dairon stood behind it, waiting patiently for Beau.

“You let her tell me that you had news for me.” Dairon stated, eyes intent on her pupil.

“Yeah.” Beau swirled ale around in her mug, glancing at the direction Jester’s room was. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Dairon’s usually stone-faced façade left. 

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Dairon. Helping the Empire persecute a harmless religion is something I can’t do anymore. I want to fix the Empire, but I don’t think I can with the Cobalt Soul.” Beau whispered, untying her sash and placing it in front of Dairon.

Beau flicked a few gold the bartender’s way and headed back towards Jester’s room.

“There’s another reason, isn’t there.” Dairon said. “Something you’re not telling me.”

Beau looked back and smirked.

“Nah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're in Nicodranas! And there have been decisions made!
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-Jester not pulling out her smut book to prove she's not innocent? Growth. And other reasons too.  
-Marion is a protective mother, and she wants to make sure Jester's with good people, or in this situation, wants to make sure Beau's a good person. (but we all already know that Beau's a good person)  
-Beau may or may not have a tiny crush on Marion because...well...it's Marion Lavorre lmao  
-Jester and Beau wanting to live together on a beach was a reference to their in-canon conversation from a while ago  
-Of course, Beau's willing to do what's right.


	18. homecoming pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hee hee I'm back. Loved the crumbs we got from last week's episode.
> 
> Ch. 17 Summary: The two arrive at Nicodranas, and Jester quickly introduces her mother to Beau, who is in turn in awe of the Ruby of the Sea. Jester and Beau visit the beach, and after a brief conversation, Beau (in what was likely gay panic) hops onto off-shore rocks to try and meditated. It isn't long until Jester tries to scramble up to the rocks too, which inadvertently causes the two to fall onto the the beach, in which Jester accidentally pins Beau to the sandy ground. Beau asks for Jester's trust, which the latter reassures, and later that evening Beau tells Dairon that she isn't willing to keep investigating the Traveler, and leaves the Cobalt Soul.

Jester looked up at Beau when she heard Dairon’s voice from the doorway, though she could only hear the faintest traces of whatever the expositor said. Jester shrugged mentally and returned to her sketchbook, idly drawing and re-drawing the Traveler’s symbol.

“Jes.”

The cleric looked up to her friend, stopping her sketch.

“I’ll be right back.” Beau glanced between her and Dairon. “Don’t plan anything crazy without me.”

Jester snorted, “No promises.”

With that, she watched Beau leave the room, gently shutting the door.

A few moments of silence passed. Jester figured she should at least  _ try _ to keep true to her promise of not planning anything. She tapped her rectangularly-shaped pencil against her paper, scanning her old room. Nothing changed in it since she left.

Another minute or so passed. 

For Jester, it felt like an hour. Cursing to herself, Jester flipped to another page in her sketchbook and drew Beau. It felt like forever since she took a crack at drawing her friend’s complex muscle system. Each imagined tension in her back was hard for Jester to imagine in the first place, much less without considering how difficult it was for the cleric to draw any other part of Beau’s body.

So Jester whispered, “Fuck it.” and drew Beau in her own Traveler cloak, relieved that it would still show the monk’s signature abs.

“She looks good in green.” a voice rumbled.

“I agree.”

Jester glanced over her shoulder, finding the familiar smile of the Traveler, his white teeth showing through the shadows cast by his hood. Jester smiled.

“Okay, so I know that Traveler-con is pretty soon, so I wanted to know what Beau and I could plan to help with it! I was thinking that maybe she and I could make some super cool activities that everyone would like.”

A low chuckle resonated through Jester’s room.

“Don’t worry, dear.” the Traveler placed a hand on his worshipper’s shoulder. “I have everything handled.”

Jester pouted, putting down her sketchbook and pencil to properly face her friend, staring at his shadowy face directly.

“...If I need help...you’ll be the first person I ask.”

“Great, so I was thinking-”

“ _ If _ I need your help.” the Traveler ran a hand through Jester’s now-down hair. “I want you to relax and spend some time with your friend, alright?”

The cleric grinned at her friend. She was totally going to plan behind his back with Beau.

“Okay. Just make sure you tell me at least a week before, okay?”

The Traveler nodded, and embraced Jester. He placed a kiss on her forehead, before fading into the air.

Jester smiled to herself, returning to her sketchbook in time for Beau to swing open her bedroom door.

“I think I did the right thing.” Beau stated.

“Of course!” Jester responded, though her eyes fell to Beau’s sash-less waist. “What happened to your sash?”

“I just-I just got a lot of ale on it, and Bluud offered to get it washed.”

Jester narrowed her gaze at the monk.

“You’re lying.”

“What? I’m not lying, Jes-” Beau’s eyes met Jester’s. “Maybe I am. A little.”

“What happened?” Jester put her sketchbook aside once more and pulled Beau into her room, shutting the door.

Beau whispered, “I may or may not have just quit the Cobalt Soul.”

The cleric fought to keep a straight face. 

“You...quit?”

“Yeah!” Beau paused, shrugging off her vest. “I’m not a monk anymore, I guess.”

“But you loved reading books from their library, and learning how to punch better.” Jester said.

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

There was an assuredness in Beau’s expression that Jester couldn’t explain, but trusted.

.

.

.

It had been about thirty minutes after they resumed planning that they hit a brick wall of creativity block.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t think of anything, Beau.” Jester sighed, rolling onto her back, splaying out her arms to the point of smacking Beau in the face out of pure exasperation.

“Me neither.” Beau chuckled. “I didn’t expect that we’d both be poorly experienced in parties.”

Jester turned to face Beau on the bed. Beau looked away.

“You’ve been to more parties than me, Beau. What did you do at them?”

The ex-monk groaned at the memories of overly-fluffy dresses, suffocating perfume, and rich dickbags. She did not miss those parties.

“I mean.” Beau gestured vaguely. “We danced.”

Jester sat up with near-blinding speed. “Oh my gosh, Beau. You know how to dance?”

“I mean not like on a dancefloor or anything-”

“Oh my gosh we should have a dancefloor!”

“Jes I don’t know-” Beau tried to speak.

“We’re going to have a dancefloor and you’re going to teach me how to dance. But not any of the boring dances, the super romantic ones I read in my old books.”

Beau sat up, saying, “I’m pretty sure the romantic ones are boring.”

“At least try to teach me, and then I can say whether or not they’re boring.”

Jester left their bed and pulled Beau up with her, gesturing for her to take the lead. She watched as Beau sighed.

Beau took Jester’s left hand in her own, holding it up parallel to their navels, shoulders relaxed.

“I wasn’t really a big fan of the way I was taught.” Beau murmured, guiding Jester’s other hand to her own shoulder, and placing her hand on her friend’s hip.

“I had no idea how much strain it put on the couple’s shoulders from how they described it in the books.” Jester reminisced, relaxing at Beau’s touch.

The ex-monk chuckled, “You have no idea.”

Beau pulled Jester into a more open space in her room, taking small steps and gliding across the wooden floor, brushing away small crystals of salt with their feet. The two rotated around and around at Beau’s hesitant lead, and before long Jester was humming softly to guide them both better.

Jester pulled her hands away from their current position, making Beau freeze. She hummed a little more and wrapped her arms around Beau’s neck, taking the lead.

Beau followed with no hesitancy, shutting her eyes and listening to her friend’s steady voice. If she was blind, she’d think Jester was a siren trying to steal her away from the world. And if she was being honest, she’d let her.

Jester hummed to keep her mind steady, trying to ignore the gentle push and pull of Beau’s muscles as she stopped leading the two. Jester continued to lead, shutting her eyes. She didn’t want to make a jump, but this felt like what her old books did before she met Beau. Jester would readily admit that she’d let Beau romance her over any of the love interests she used to pine over.

The two leaned in, letting their foreheads touch.

The cleric pulled back and took Beau’s hands again, and dipping her friend. She opened her eyes to find two blue pupils staring right back at her.

She panicked and dropped her friend onto the floor.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry Beau!” 

Groaning, Beau stood up. “It’s fine.” the ex-monk looked into Jester’s eyes, which were now averting their gaze. “What did you think of the dance?”

“It was…” Jester adjusted her clothes. “Amazing. Not boring at all.”

Beau sat back down on their bed. 

“The way you say it doesn’t make it sound amazing though.” Beau remarked.

“No, no! You were great and all, it’s just that I don’t know if it would fit Traveler-con, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that.” Beau pat the space beside her. “But...it seems like there’s still other stuff on your mind.”

Jester sat on their bed, placing her sketchbook in her lap and mumbling, “Well I just feel like while the Traveler said not to worry about it, I want to still help with everything because everyone’s gonna be there and I have to be super cool and if I don’t maybe he won’t care about me anymore and-”

“Jester.”

The cleric found her hands crumpling the sketch she drew of Beau in her cloak.

“Y’know, maybe we can take a break for now. You said the meeting’s not happening in a while, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“So let’s just relax. You want to draw something?”

Jester smiled. “Actually, yeah. Can you take your shirt off?”

Beau nearly choked. “What?”

“Oh my gosh-I mean-” Jester put her head against her sketchbook. “You said a while back that I could draw your back since I was having trouble with anatomy.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Jester kept her eyes trained on her sketchbook as Beau turned to face away from Jester and pulled her shirt up, exposing her back. The cleric let her eyes focus on every muscle and scar, until she could only focus on one detail. A scar that ran through Beau’s right side and towards the base of her spine. Jester reached out and touched the warped tissue, inadvertently locking Beau’s muscles up.

“How did you get this? I don’t remember seeing this one.”

“That was a scar that I healed on my own. You remember when I told you that I healed wounds on my own before, right?”

“Yeah but...this must’ve taken months.” Jester whispered.

“It did. I got it when I fell off a tree when I was nine. It was enough to have my father stop me from ever going near another tree so long as I lived under his roof.”

Jester ran her index finger along the scar.

“No wonder I’ve never been able to draw your back right.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve always missed your scars. The muscles were fine, but not the scars.”

Jester began her new drawing of Beau’s back, focusing on the way light would affect not only her muscles but her scars. She’d scoot in closer behind Beau to examine smaller scars, to the point where her tiredness from the day led her to fall asleep, gently knocking her head against the back of Beau’s shoulder.

The ex-monk would slowly let Jester down onto her pillow, cleaning up the sketchbook and pulling her shirt back on, blowing out their lanterns before curling in closer to Jester.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea yea yea gay rights. Honestly this was one of the more tender things I've written (though I gotta say writing the beauyasha 'i love you's from there's something so broken about this is a v close second).
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-Jester making sure her cloak wouldn't cover Beau's abs is basically a wink and a nod to when Jester did the same when Beau got her Expositor robes in-canon  
-The Traveler *cough* [REDACTED] *cough* just wants the best for Jester  
-Beau can't lie to Jester about leaving the Cobalt Soul (or lie about anything to Jester, really. even tho she saved the zone of truth spell!)  
-So I did some quick googling about ballroom dances and there are??? so many??? the one that Beau learned from her parents was the Viennese style (tho ima be honest i originally thought it was Vietnamese and then I realized ballroom dancing's a pretty European thing)  
-Addendum to the dancing style: Beau prefers a really slow version of the viennese style, with a much more relaxed posture  
-Why did Jester drop Beau after dipping her? Hmmmm  
-Beau getting a scar from falling from a tree at nine years old is a reference to the girl in red song, "Watch You Sleep"
> 
> EDIT: I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS BUT THANK YOU FOR THE 2K HITS???
> 
> Haha lots of details in this one, wow. Anyway, y'all know what I'm gonna say, share, comment if you'd like but I'm not gonna force you to. So yeah.


	19. waves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY LOOK I LOST TRACK OF TIME 
> 
> Ch. 18 Summary: In planning for Traveler-con (behind the Traveler's back), Beau and Jester go through a couple of activities such as a slow dance. After Jester drops Beau in a dip, the two relax by having Jester draw her friend's back, no with extra detail and accuracy as Beau let herself become a model until Jester fell asleep.

Beau never considered herself a morning person. At all. However, she currently found herself awake just before the crack of dawn, and Jester was still sound asleep next to her. She knew she couldn’t fall back to sleep, nor did she feel comfortable waking Jester up from a seemingly nice dream.

The monk groaned to herself and sat up, rubbing her eyes in frustration. Then she gently stomped out of Jester’s room and into the hall, stopping when she noticed that she was face to face with the Ruby of the Sea.

“Good morning, Beauregard.”

“It’s Beau.” the monk spat, before inwardly kicking herself. “Sorry, good morning.”

“It’s fine, Beau.” the courtesan murmured, a smile pulling across her lips.

Beau didn’t trust that. But she wasn’t willing to get into an early-morning argument with her friend’s mother, especially since she could kick Beau out any time she wanted. Nodding to her, Beau stepped past the woman, keeping her head down and trying to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

A firm hand placed on her bicep stopped her in her tracks.

“Uh…”

“What are your intentions with my daughter?” Marion asked, expression painfully hard to read.

“I-uh...I’m her friend. We just ran into each other and then kept sticking together.” Beau said. She was trying her damndest not to say something wrong.

“Is it true that you’ve been with her through the times she was in prison?” 

“The first time.” Beau blurted. “The second time we were separated when she got caught, and it took me a week to bail her out of there. I’m sorry. I didn’t want her to go through that, I understood the isolation in those cells ‘cause I’ve been there before when I was at my lowest and-”

“It’s okay. I won’t prod you anymore. But I suggest getting Jester some breakfast because she’ll be waking up soon.”

“How do you know she’ll-”

“I’m her mother. I know when she wakes up because I was never able to wish her good morning myself.” Marion sighed, letting go of Beau. “I’m glad someone can do that more often, now.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

Beau nodded once more in Marion’s direction, heading downstairs to buy some breakfast for her and Jester, trying to mull over how the courtesan could make her speak so easily without any magic.

.

.

.

Jester woke up and pawed at an empty bed. Blinking, she sat up and looked around. On Beau’s bedside table was a card and her sketchbook beneath it.

_ I know you know you’re great at drawing but I never knew someone could make a back look so cool. _

_ -Beau _

_ _ Jester smiled to herself, pocketing the note and looking down at her drawing. For once, a good night’s rest didn’t make her work look worse. She counted that as an improvement on her end.

Stepping out into the hallway, the Tiefling spotted her mother talking to Bluud, stopping the moment Jester shut her door.

“Good morning, my Sapphire.”

“Good morning, momma.” Jester chirped, giving her mother a side-hug.

Chuckling, the Ruby of the Sea pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead, saying, “Your friend is waiting on you for breakfast.”

Jester smiled once more, and headed down the familiar winding staircase of the Lavish Chateau, dashing across the common area to Beau, who was nursing a coffee and lounging around in pajamas and disheveled hair. She seemed very intent on a piece of paper in front of her, which she was writing on and erasing frequently.

Sitting across from her, Jester cleared her throat.

Beau jumped in her seat, nearly falling off before rebalancing herself and putting down the paper in front of her, smiling sheepishly.

“Good morning, Beau!”

“Morning, Jes.” Beau ran a hand through her hair, gesturing towards the empty plate in front of Jester. “You ready for breakfast?”

At Jester’s nod, Beau called Tyral over, pointing at various places in the menu and patting him on the shoulder to send him away.

“What are you doing to that paper?” Jester asked, once Beau finished ordering.

“Apparently it’s a puzzle that’s made every morning here in Nicodranas. I stepped outside for one second and the mail kid just shoved it into my hands and made me pay 5 copper for it.” Beau mumbled, erasing another part of the parchment.

“Oh. Then why do you keep erasing stuff on it?”

The ex-monk wheezed, “I can’t figure out this one word. Everything I come up with just doesn’t fit in with everything else I thought of before.”

“What’s the hint?”

“It’s ‘The feeling near and far to one’s heart, intense in its own right but never apparent to others.’ The fuck does that even mean?” Beau muttered.

“That’s easy, Beau.” Jester took the paper from her friend’s hands and wrote her answer in and gave it back. “It’s yearning.”

“...Yearning. Yeah ri-”

Jester watched Beau look at the paper and double-check it for any incongruencies with the other words, smirking to herself when the woman couldn’t find anything wrong. The smirk turned into a grin when Beau looked back up to her.

“How did you get  _ yearning  _ from that? Of all words…” Beau trailed.

“I’ve read romance novels, Beau. Yearning’s like, step number one.” Jester boasted, keeping her grin as wide as possible.

Jester brushed off the indignant look coming from Beau and focused on Tyral balancing several plates on his arms, putting them down on the table. Every pastry on the menu was right in front of her. This was one of the best starts to her day in a while.

Jester was through a little more than half of what was ordered before Beau spoke up.

“So with a refreshed mind, do you have any ideas for Traveler-con, Ms. Director?” Beau questioned, dipping a quill in ink and opening her Cobalt Soul journal.

Jester could’ve sworn there were more pages in it before. 

“Not really. I mean unless you count a ‘Beau’s Back Drawing Competition’.” 

At Beau’s wincing, Jester giggled.

“Actually, I do have an idea!” Jester whisper-yelled, smacking her palms onto the table, briefly rattling the various plates void of any pastries or bacon. “Let’s go  _ swimming _ for ideas!”

Jester waggled her eyebrows, shifting her hands onto Beau’s. She felt them tense for a brief moment before relaxing, and Beau’s eyes met hers. Despite how messy her hair was, Jester wasn’t afraid to admit how pretty Beau looked. Pretty wasn’t the right word for it. Handsome? 

Internally shaking her head, Jester kept her eyes focused on Beau’s, and there was an expression she couldn’t read, for as much as she usually could. Jester tugged Beau up from her seat and towards their current bedroom to find some comfortable underwear they could use for swimming.

.

.

.

In the sea, Jester’s world was at peace. It had been a while since she got to really appreciate the dull blue waves lapping against her (ignoring her and Beau’s visit not but a day ago). Shrugging off her cardigan and sundress, Jester was left in modest clothes, ones she never had a use for since she didn’t swim much in the empire. 

Out of the corner of her eyes, Jester spotted Beau awkwardly fiddling with the various strings on her Nicodranian clothes, eventually cursing to herself and pulling off the entirety of it, leaving herself in her old monk crop-top and shorts. Jester would’ve laughed at the sight but Beau being nearly naked made her look away, and she didn’t want Beau knowing she was staring in the first place.

Jester sprinted into the water, barely slowing the deeper she got, before she allowed herself to float and relax as the waves bobbed her up and down. She drifted a little farther out and listened to the sound of the sea around her.

It was soon interrupted by loud splashing and gasps. Jester shifted around, only to spot her friend struggling when she tried to get closer.

“Beau!”

“What!?” Beau yelled, continuing her splashing.

“You have to relax!”

“How am I supposed to do that!?” Beau sunk beneath for a moment. “I’m gonna die doing this! Jes!”

Jester watched intently, wading closer as Beau continued to struggle to keep her head above water, eventually losing her hair tie in the process. Beau was drowning. Actually drowning.

Jester prayed silently as she swam as fast as she could towards her friend, before looping her arms around Beau’s shoulders and guiding both of them back towards the shore. While Beau herself wasn’t hard to tug, her waterlogged crop-top and shorts added an unexpected amount of weight.

Once her friend was clear on the sand, Jester pressed her fingers to Beau’s neck, checking for a pulse while she listened for her breath. Luckily enough, Jester could feel a very faint heartbeat, though Beau wasn’t breathing.

Jester carved sigils into the air with a deftness she only had back in Alfield.

The green sigils flashed and faded into dust, as Jester felt the presence of seawater in Beau’s lungs and gently coaxed it out, little by little. She watched her friend’s face intently as drops of water flowed out of her mouth, and before long Beau shot up and coughed the rest of it out.

Jester moved her hands onto Beau’s cheeks, turning Beau to face her after the last of water had been coughed out.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

Beau’s eyes were unfocused, but Jester could tell she was listening.

“Yes.” Beau coughed. “Thank you, Jester.”

Jester let herself get pulled into a hug, feeling Beau’s once quick heartbeat and breathing gradually slow down.

“For all the cool shit you can do, I can’t believe that  _ swimming _ isn’t one of them.”

Beau wheezed, “Yeah.”

“I can teach you, if you want.” Jester mumbled, her mind only processing her words after she said it.

“I’d appreciate that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gays.
> 
> Details:  
-Marion just wants what's best for her daughter, that's all.  
-As someone who used to be an artist (for like...a class), I had Jester be surprised with liking her art hours after creating it because I know most artists find flaws the moment they finish their own pieces.  
-Tyral's an actual dude from the Lavish Chateau! Thank you CR Wiki.  
-Yearning...yeah  
-And of course, Beau can't swim. She's from Kamordah, y'all.
> 
> As always, I appreciate comments and shares but I'm never gonna force you.


	20. the sea and gods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah im uploading this early 'cause i have to be somewhere today and uh kinda need to leave earlier than i thought so yea 
> 
> Ch. 19 Summary: Beau wakes up early and has a one-on-one with Marion, before getting ready for breakfast with Jester. The two later once again visit the beach, with Beau nearly drowning and Jester offering to teach her how to swim.

Jester waded through the water, taking Beau’s calloused hand in her own and guiding her deeper into the ocean. Beau’s hands shook, and with good reason, but Jester held onto her firmly.

“How do you love the ocean so much? Look how deep it is-” Beau rambled, staring at the crystal clear water.

“You’ll be okay, Beau. Just breathe and focus on me.” 

The Tiefling kept going until Beau’s feet could barely scrape the sea-floor, while Jester still had both of her own feet planted. She never realized how short Beau was until just now. Jester would tease her friend if it weren’t for the fact that Beau would probably drown if she wasn’t paying attention to her.

Jester tipped Beau onto her back, guiding her to try and float on top of the calm waves. Casting Control Water, she gave Beau a little boost and giggled at Beau’s face, which contorted in surprise and a bit of glee.

“See? Relax your body a little, and I can let you float on your own.” Jester paused. “Well not leave you on your own entirely. You know what I mean.”

Jester gave Beau a few moments to get accustomed to the feeling of floating, and she couldn’t help but study Beau’s face. There was a feeling in her chest, but she couldn’t put a name to it.

“Before I start swimming for real, I just wanted to say that I quit the Cobalt Soul for _ you _ .” Beau said. “Your religion’s weird, but I don’t want to support a state-sponsored hunt just because they’re tired of your god’s followers drawing dicks everywhere.”

“What?” Jester spat.

“I said-” 

Jester half-heartedly swatted at Beau’s arm, saying, “Why would you quit your job for me? Didn’t you like it a lot?”

“Yeah, but I stopped liking it when I figured out how harmless your religion was. I mean you being a part of that religion pushed me to actually go through with it but I was going to quit whether or not you were actually in it.”

“Beau…” Jester trailed.

“Don’t worry about it, Jes. I’m happy I’m sticking to my guns on this one.”

“Guns?”

“They’re an invention form Tal’dorei. It was a reference to my muscles-nevermind.”

“Oh.”

The two settled back into a comfortable silence, with Jester helping Beau float once more and keeping a hand on the arm she swatted at.

Beau chuckled, “Is there a consolation prize if I don’t get any further than floating on my back today?”

Giving it a couple of moments of thought, Jester leaned down and tried to kiss Beau’s temple. Keyword: try.

Instead, the waves jerked Beau in an unexpected direction, and Jester’s lips found themselves on Beau’s cheek, and the Tiefling fought to maintain concentration on her spell. She felt Beau lock up from beneath her.

The two stayed silent for a few moments before Jester spoke up once more.

“I don’t know if you’re ready to swim yet.” Jester joked.

Beau pouted and groaned, “I’m only agreeing with you because my hair looks like broccoli in this water.”

Jester shook her head, before having her spell to clear the water from around them, letting them stand on the sand.

“Wait are we really leaving the beach?” 

“Well there is one more thing I want to show you, but I need you to promise me you’ll stay calm.” Jester offered, brushing Beau’s hair back.

At Beau’s nod, Jester took her hand and led both of them deeper into the ocean, using her spell to keep them dry but able to look at the ocean floor. Their feet left tracks quickly wiped away by the ocean’s return behind them, but they were both focused on what was ahead.

Jester stopped and pointed at the fish and sea life around them. Beau couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping, and she had to resist the urge to reach through the wall of water and touch every fish she saw. The Tiefling stood behind her, smiling at the genuine glee on her face. It was like the circus again.

“Y’know Jes...I never thought I would see the ocean one day. Especially like this.” Beau chuckled, turning back to her friend.

“I never thought I would’ve met someone like you.” Jester blurted, laughing at Beau’s dumbfounded expression. “Especially since you look so cute right now.”

“...We can leave now.” Beau deflected.

“What? You are cute, at least when you’re happy like this.”

Jester kissed Beau’s temple before scooping both of them with water and gently tossing them back onto the beach where they left their clothes. Beau had to pry a crab from her clothes while Jester laughed.

.

.

.

The duo was halfway through the city gates before Jester noticed Beau stopping.

“Beau?”

“You know you don’t have to do everything for people, right?” Beau murmured, her head hung in contemplation.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you don’t have to sacrifice all of your time and effort into someone all the time. You can take breaks. I’m sure the Traveler wants you to relax sometimes, and to be honest, I want you to relax too.” Beau took a step forward towards her friend. “I appreciate you trying to teach me how to swim today, but it’s okay to step back and let me learn on my own.”

“At least you’re okay with getting my help now.” Jester responded, keeping her eyes trained away from Beau’s.

“I’m sorry I was against that for a long time. But Jes-” 

The Tiefling in question felt hesitant hands on her arms, squeezing them reassuringly.

“It’s not your job to play therapist for people you’re close to. I mean you do a great job at listening but I feel like you don’t have to all the time...and I feel like you should be okay with leaning on me or the Traveler more too. We aren’t a transaction, we’re friends.”

At Beau’s softening voice, Jester couldn’t help but lean forward and pull her friend into a tight hug, ignoring the various undried bits of untied hair. Jester felt Beau return the hug tighter.

“Thank you, Beau.” Jester chimed.

“Always, Jes.”

.

.

.

As it was still early in the morning, neither woman wanted to return to the Lavish Chateau quite yet, and the first store they stopped by was a clothing store, to get out of now salt-encrusted clothes and into more comfortable ones, as well as buying a green strip of cloth for Beau’s hair.

“You look great in green.” Jester commented, forcing a sheepish Beau to chuckle in ten different pitches before speedwalking out of the store.

By mid-afternoon, the two found themselves standing in front of a tall tower at the edge of the Open Quay. The lighthouse in front of them bore the image of the Wildmother herself leaning toward the ocean. 

Jester wanted to graffiti it.

Beau took two minutes to convince her not to, aided by the memory of the Lord Sharpe prank fiasco.

“Well, what do you want to do here, Beau?”

“Do you know if anyone lives in it?”

“I mean the ships have to see it’s light, so I guess so.”

Jester rushed ahead of Beau, knocking incessantly at the door before it opened up. Dimly lit from behind was a half-orc man with graying hair, kept in a short undercut and a gruff beard. He looked tired but happy to see her and Beau.

“Gladys told me we’d have no visitors today, but here you are.” he greeted.

“What. Is. Your. Accent?” Jester blurted. 

“Well, I’m not really from ‘round these parts...so you kinda pick up weird accents.” 

“What’s your name?” Beau asked.

“Fjord, a paladin of the Wildmother.”

Jester poked at the crest on his breastplate, saying, “So why do you live at the lighthouse?”

“Jes, I feel like you’re asking a lot of personal questions-”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Fjord chuckled. “We don’t get a lot of visitors around here so it’s always a pleasure to see new faces. Do you want to come in for some tea? Well, if Gladys says it’s okay.”

“Of course!” Jester affirmed, pulling Beau into the lighthouse.

“Alright, y’all can just sit on those seats for now, and hopefully when I return Gladys won’t have ripped me a new one and come barreling down to kick y’all out.”

Beau and Jester chuckled nervously.

“That was a joke! Well, kinda...” Fjord trailed, walking up the large staircase of his home.

The moment Jester figured he was out of earshot, she poked Beau’s side, teasing, “I thought you wanted to come here to learn about the lighthouse, Beau.”

“Well I did, but now I don’t really know what to ask. And I mean, the way this Fjord guy describes Gladys, I don’t know if I want to stay around to ask.” the ex-monk confessed, fidgeting with her wraps.

“Oh it’ll be fine, Beau. You’re super tough and strong, I’m sure this lady couldn’t hurt us.”

As if on cue, Fjord came back down the stairs, tray in hand with three cups of steaming tea, a wide smile plastered on his face.

“Gladys didn’t rip me a new one! And she told me she was glad I was finally talking to people.” Fjord celebrated, placing the tray between him and the duo. “So, y’all are interested in the lighthouse, right?”

Jester nudged Beau’s side and watched her nearly choke on her tea.

“I actually had a few questions about you and your god. Jester’s my only frame of reference for divine relationships, and being with her for months made me realize how...unique her relationship with her god is.”

Fjord chuckled, “Well, I’m sure the Wildmother would find you and Jester cute. You’re basically a mortal version of her, and her wife, the Lawbearer.”

At this, Jester choked on her own tea before trying to cough it off.

“Uh, you know the marital status of your god?” Beau sputtered.

“Well, yes. But it’s common knowledge to any of her or Erathis’ worshippers.”

Beau nodded to herself, mulling over the next questions to ask.

“Well, if you know she’s married to another god, are her worshippers like...her friends or something?”

Fjord’s booming laugh echoed through the antechamber of the lighthouse.

“Oh no, the only real closeness I have is whenever Gladys casts Commune and I feel a warm breeze against my face.” the paladin chuckled, wiping tears from his eyes.

Beau figured that Fjord wasn’t fessing up everything, but she didn’t want to bother digging deeper. For now.

“Then...how do you depend on her?” Jester asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Well she gives me guidance when she needs to, but she lets me have my independence too. We’re like friends but I know not to overstep, and I’m sure she does too. She knows I have other people to talk to.” Fjord leaned in closer to the two in front of him. “And I know she’s been telling Gladys to get me to talk to people more. It’s probably why she didn’t scold me for letting y’all in.”

At Fjord’s wide smile, Jester felt her stomach drop. She didn’t understand how someone as devoted as she was could have such a different relationship with his god.

“Thank you.” Jester mumbled. 

The rest of Beau’s conversation with Fjord was tuned out in Jester’s mind, and she stared at the symbol in her hand. 

Jester didn’t know what to make of her relationship to the Traveler now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah yea yea
> 
> Details:   
-Yes I kinda messed with Control water's abilities but it's chill  
-Jester was somewhat angry at Beau, because she was aware of her self-sacrificial tendencies but Beau earnestly would've quit the Cobalt Soul sooner or later because Beau found out the religion was harmless (Jester just influenced her to come to that decision sooner)  
-I like to imagine Beau picks up idioms that Wildemount people don't because she reads a lot, so when she learned about Percy's guns and the ensuing idioms in Tal'dorei...  
-Jester is usually a pretty affectionate person, but she took longer to kiss Beau. Platonically, of course.  
-Beau is genuinely okay with getting Jester's help now, but also knows that Jester isn't everyone's therapist, even for her own god.  
-I'd like to imagine that Fjord would've found his way to the Wildmother one way or another. He's a good guy, and as Cad would probably say, he has a destiny.  
-Fjord still has a southern accent  
-Fjord's first lesson in his goddess was who she was married to  
-Both Jester and Beau have only had each other to understand what god-worshipper relationships are like, and this definitely changed their perspectives a little
> 
> As always, please leave a comment or share the fic, and thank y'all for sticking with me through??? twenty??? chapters??? that's crazy.


	21. dinner and intimacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I'm really sorry yesterday was just very busy and I was really tired and highkey forgot to upload the chapter but here we are!
> 
> Ch. 20 Summary: Jester tries to teach Beau how to swim. During Beau's floating, the ex-monk confesses that she gave up being a monk in part of her ideology of not persecuting a harmless religion, but also because she cared a lot about Jester. The Tiefling briefly scolded her friend, before continuing the floating lesson. As a reward, Jester tried to give Beau a chaste kiss on the temple, but missing and kissing her cheek instead. The two distract themselves from the action and go underwater, looking at the seafloor before heading back into the city. While on the way there, Beau reassures Jester that the latter doesn't need to be a therapist for others, and should take a break when she needs it. Once in the city, Beau's curiosity peaks at the Mother's Lighthouse, and the two meet a worshipper of the Wildmother: Fjord. They both learn of another worshipper-god relationship, and Jester is left questioning her own relationship with the Traveller.

Trying to put the memory of Fjord and the lighthouse in the back of her mind, Jester’s grip on Beau’s hand as they wandered through Nicodranas was tight and unrelenting, a thousand thoughts running through her head a minute. 

The Tiefling, in disguise, led Beau to a store she frequented when she was allowed to in the past.

A dull chime signaled their entrance, and Jester watched as Beau drooled over the variety of options in front of them. From history to fiction, this shop had a lengthy book section, and Jester couldn’t help but smile.

The duo went their separate ways and Jester sped through the various aisles, skipping over the romance fiction section. Her mind still had thoughts of if her friendship with the Traveler was normal. She still felt a conviction to him but she couldn’t help but feel like she, and her faith, was out of place. 

Jester’s hand brushed against the smooth leather bindings of various books she wasn’t paying attention to. Blinking, she realized she was in the cooking section of the store. Looking down at the heavily-embellished spine of this book, she tilted her head to read: _ The Gallery of Foods and Desserts. _

The Desserts part of the title grabbed her attention first, but the first page of its inside made her forget her original interest. The first page, preceding the table of contents was an image of two women sitting across from each other and sipping soup. Jester read its caption.

_ Dedicated to Melora and Erathis, the true balance between all of life. And also to my unhealthy love of soup in a bread bowl. _

_ -L.N. _

Jester flipped through the contents of the book as fast as she could, trying to find the page where this food would be found. Scanning the page, she skipped over the abnormally long story behind the recipe and scanned over the ingredients and detailed steps.

A chin rested on her shoulder, and a low voice rumbled, “I never would’ve thought you would be looking at something that wasn’t a pastry, Jes.”

The Tiefling turned to look at her friend who shut a book - _ A Chronology of the Gods and of the Calamity _\- and started sifting through her gold pouch.

“Well, I wanted to try something new.” Jester retorted, snapping the book shut and tucking it beneath her arm.

“Nice. You ready to buy?”

“Yep, though I think we’ll have to spend the Gentleman’s money for the ingredients listed.” Jester mumbled, looking through her own pockets and bag.

Beau forced herself to blink back into the present.

“Yeah, Yeah. After your Traveler-con we should probably find another job before I start feeling guilty for spending your mom’s money.”

Jester laughed but kept her eyes trained on Beau’s book before reassuring her friend that they wouldn’t be using blood money anytime soon.

.

.

.

The duo stumbled into the back entrance of the Lavish Chateau, newly-bought knapsacks with groceries in arm, face-to-face with Bluud.

“Hey Bluud could you let us use the kitchen for a little bit Beau and I just want to make something for ourselves and this is getting really heavy do you mind helping us carry the milk it’s starting to get really heavy for Beau and my hands are already full-”

“Hey!” Beau interjected.

Without a word, Bluud’s lips stretched into a wide smile and he picked up the vase of milk in his hand, which looked so tiny compared to him. The Minotaur guided them to a quieter corner of the kitchen, and patted the two on their heads.

“Just clean up after yourselves, alright?” he said, trying to avoid the prying eyes of the other cooks.

Jester’s grin was enough to reassure him, and without missing a beat, the two began.

Beau tossed the butter, garlic, and onion Jester prepared into the pot, barely avoiding the flames from catching onto her harem pants. The Tiefling scolded her briefly before adding vegetables and watching Beau out of the corner of her eye, who cut open and hollowed out bread bowls for the two of them.

Jester sprinkled in cheese and Beau held out the bread bowls, the two meeting each other’s gaze in excitement while Jester poured in their servings, and cleaned up their area.

Pushing past usual customers and waiters, the two sat down at the table they were at this morning, waiting for who would eat first.

“This is like, the first time I’ve ever cooked something, Beau.” Jester chimed.

“Same here, I can’t believe we didn’t burn anything.”

The two kept looking at each other. Neither one wanted to eat first. Jester glanced down at Beau’s plate. The bread was getting soaked through with the soup.

“Shit, Beau!”

In the blink of an eye, the two realized that they needed to eat this quickly and did so, only stopping when the last crumb of bread was cleaned up.

“Wow.” Beau breathed.

“Yeah.”

“Would’ve been better if we didn’t wait so long to eat it.”

“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have kept staring-I mean waiting.” Jester added, ordering some water for the two.

Between sips, Beau looked up at Jester and said, “We should cook more often.”

“We totally should.” Jester chuckled, before groaning. “Oh my gosh, I feel so gross.”

“What? Why?”

“There’s so much salt in my clothes right now. We should take a bath.”

.

.

.

Jester settled into the tub, sliding her back against Beau’s, and sighed as the heat from the water loosened the mild cramps she got from gliding around the kitchen with Beau.

Beau leaned her head against Jester’s, beginning to relax the tension in her own shoulders from the day. And from her proximity to her crush.

“Today was fun.” Jester whispered.

“Definitely. I mean, not the almost-drowning part, but you resuscitating me was pretty cool.” 

Jester pulled her hair out of its tie and turned so she could rest her chin on her friend’s shoulder.

“Can you wash my hair? I’m tired.”

Beau chuckled, “Yeah, but you know I’m gonna have to turn around, right?”

“It’s fine, we’ve been roommates for a super long time now.”

“Only if you’re sure.”

Jester nodded against Beau’s muscle, pulling away. Beau turned to face her friend, and pushed her back against one end of the tub, gently pulling Jester towards her but not enough to violate either of their spaces.

Beau thanked any of the gods that were listening that the water was opaque.

Jester shut her eyes as Beau’s hands slowly ran through her hair, quietly pouring water over her head and washing it, her hands deft and gentle.

“That feels really nice.”

“Th-Thanks.” Beau murmured.

Jester really wanted to lean back into Beau’s embrace, but she felt like it would be weird. It would be weird. That would be weird to do right now.

After Beau finished, Jester lifted herself out of the bathtub and slipped on her nightgown, kissing Beau’s temple before leaving. 

Beau kept her eyes locked away from her friend and inwardly froze when she felt Jester’s lips “Good night, Beau.” against her skin.

After some time, Jester felt Beau join her side and wrap an arm around her, before blowing the candles out.

“G’night Jes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Domestic vibes. Like. Oh to cook dinner with your crush like you would if you were married (look im gay and yearning).
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-L.N. stands for Lucien Nonagon  
-Look, as someone who's currently in a history class, the amount of "ofs" and "thes" in old book titles is alarming. Like actually.  
-Beau really hates the blood money the Gentleman gave them in addition to their trip to Nicodranas. Really hates it, to the point where she actually gave her cut of the pavement to Jester.  
-Jester and Beau reduce, reuse, and recycle. Those knapsacks for the groceries they got were basically ye old grocery recyclable bags  
-Bluud supports these two learning how to cook. And also just in general supports these two.  
-I actually looked up a soup in a bread bowl recipe for this.  
-I asked my friend ('cause at a ren faire i saw soup in a bread bowl and was curious), and she told me that the bread gets soggy really quickly, so that's why I had that little detail.  
-These two were back to back a la The Witcher show. But with a lot less sexual tension because Beau wouldn't leer like that. She was physically trying to keep her eyes off Jester as much as possible when she was washing her hair, y'all.  
-These two are getting more comfortable with physical intimacy that isn't even necessarily romantic. And that's because I support platonic intimacy.


	22. morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lowkey forgot what time I upload my chapters so sorry for being a little late!
> 
> Also wanted to mention that for the ~last chapters~ of this fic, I'm gonna be spacing them out to every other week because my weekends have become pretty busy as of late so. Yeah.
> 
> Ch. 21 Summary: Jester and Beau make dinner and take a bath, enjoying each others' company while Jester contemplates her own feelings about gods, food, and Beau.

Months had passed. Jester felt like it was every other week the Traveller would push the date back just a little in order to buy a little more time. For what, Jester never learned. Her friend never asked for her help, and if she was being honest, Jester was happy he never did. She was able to spend more time with Beau, and they got a few jobs here and there, though they always did end up with a few scars or bruises.

However, today was the day.

Light filtered into her and Beau’s room, casting a beam of warmth onto her arm, which was wrapped across the waist of her friend. Jester’s eyes fluttered open around the same time as Beau.

“Hi, Beau.”

“Morning, Jes.” Beau croaked.

Over these months, Jester felt like she found more and more things to like about Beau. At first, it was Beau’s eagerness and energy that matched Jester’s. Soon, it turned into the faint patterns of scars, and what was likely the divine design of her muscles. Then, it was the way the corner of her lip always turned up when she smirked, or the way she would only let her hair down when they were alone together. As of late, Jester couldn’t help but smile when Beau’s gaze softened at her own, and when Beau kissed her forehead as Jester vented.

“Do you want me to cook breakfast or do you wanna?” Beau mumbled, turning towards her friend and rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes.

“I think we should cook together today.” Jester offered.

At Beau’s nod, Jester giggled and pressed a quick kiss onto Beau’s nose, hopping down the steps at a faster pace than Beau was willing to keep up with this early in the morning.

That was a thing too. Jester always felt the need to get closer to Beau, and she noticed Beau doing the same. A part of her thought that maybe she wanted to kiss Beau, for real, and she even asked the Traveler about it. He only gave a knowing smile and pat her on the head.

After an insufferable amount of time, Beau’s chin rested on Jester’s head.

“What do you want to make today?” 

Jester squatted a little bit, letting Beau remove herself easily. Beau might think she was taller than Jester, but she wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

The Tiefling bore her canines, muttering in infernal, “Fish omelet.”

“Weird day to use infernal, but fish omelet it is.” Beau responded, her eyes glowing briefly with the language.

“You’re getting really good with your accent, by the way.”

“Thank you, Jes.” Beau grinned as she beat the eggs.

Poaching the fish was easy. But Jester added way more in terms of flavor than what the book recommended. Whoever this L.N. guy was, he had the weakest tastebuds both Jester and Beau had ever seen.

“Man I can’t wait until we find a home so we don’t have to keep using this kitchen.” Jester remarked, preparing the fish for the next step.

“We still have a few more jobs to get, but yeah, after Traveler-con we’re gonna be set.” Beau poured the eggs onto the pan. “But we don’t have to worry about that yet. It’s your big day. I mean, other than your birthday, of course.”

Once Beau’s eggs had fish added onto it, the two hummed to an infernal song Jester had learned and shared with her friend.  _ Sweet Caroline _ . It didn’t translate easily to Common, so Beau had to pick up the language while she worked out with Fjord.

In true fashion, the two cleaned up and rushed out to eat their breakfast together, only mildly disturbing the normal patrons of the Lavish Chateau.

.

.

.

Jester shrugged on her old green cloak that had been with her through thick and thin. It was well-worn, and each fiber of it seemed a little too washed out, the green faded. Its weight on her shoulders felt heavier than before, and she felt like she didn’t fill out its mantle as much anymore.

Turning around, she spotted Beau doing the same, taking extra precaution to keep her abs on display. Jester reached out and adjusted the hood currently resting around Beau’s neck, tucking in stray strands of hair behind her ears.

“I’m glad you helped me pick this out.” Beau murmured.

“You might’ve gotten the wrong shade without my help.” Jester giggled, brushing dust off Beau’s shoulders that had settled from weeks of storage.

Beau’s eyes lingered on her own for a second, before glancing away and moving back.

“You’re not gonna bring your old romance books or anything?”

Jester gave her friend a faux-indignant look, replying, “I don’t think the Traveler wants any distractions. Not even with my super well-written love story of a monk.”

A part of Jester wanted to give Beau a wink and even pull her close, but she knew Beau would probably think that was weird.

“I still haven’t actually read this love story of yours, you know.” Beau gave a gentle smile.

“Maybe one day.” Jester took a step closer. “But for now, we have to keep getting ready!” 

Jester took Beau’s hand and guided her down and out of the Lavish Chateau and into the familiar warm air of Nicodranas. The city never really changed during their time here, but Beau’s presence made it worthwhile to step out often and spend time together.

Roaming around town, the duo kept eager eyes out for other worshippers in green robes, or at the very least, anyone in a green robe. The number of weirded-out responses and reluctant wave-backs made Jester’s mood sink a little but Beau stayed close by to keep her head up.

“I never really realized that so many people wore green robes until today.” Beau remarked. “Jes?”

Jester’s eyes were trained on Beau’s comfortable stance as she trailed behind her.

“Jes?” Beau repeated, glancing back.

“Hm?”

“Are you worried about tonight?” Beau asked.

The Tiefling skipped up to her friend, taking her arm in her own and saying, “Of course I am! I’m just glad you’re with me though.”

Jester looked into Beau’s azure eyes. She’d have to make a colored sketch of those, one day.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a little scared of a lot of things right now.”

Beau snorted. “Me too, actually.” the ex-monk stopped both of them in their tracks and moved to stand in front of her friend. “But we’re together. We’ll be alright. Probably.”

It was that smirk again. Jester smiled at it, and at Beau’s words.

“I love you, Beau.”

Jester could’ve sworn Beau’s arms tensed. “Love you too, Jes.”

.

.

.

Night had fallen by the time Jester was instructed to cast a sixth level spell to find where Traveler-con would be.

Settled in their room, Jester heard the Traveler’s affirming words and pulled out some tarot cards she bought a while back. Glancing up, she saw a scowl flash across Beau’s face that faded into a neutral, unreadable expression.

Jester rearranged the cards into geometric shapes that stacked onto one another.

“Heh, that kinda looks like a wizard spell.”

The Tiefling smiled at Beau. “This is way cooler than a wizard spell.”

After a brief flourish, the room became flooded with a dull green light, and Jester’s eyes followed suit. A golden line drew itself from the soles of her feet and through her room window. Looking through it, she saw the line continue to dip beneath the foundation of the Mother’s Lighthouse.

Glancing back, Jester’s eyes fell onto her green-clad friend, shrugging and gesturing for her to lead the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH yeah. Okay we're really getting to the end now. I am kinda nervous. (for being able to write well, not because i have something horrible planned)
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-Domesticity.   
-Also, Jester's brain has become less wired to think one way when it comes to attraction, and I think that she's slowly discovering herself.  
-Of course Beau would learn Infernal for Jester. They like to talk in it when they wanna have a private conversation amongst other people. It gets them weird looks, but they don't care.  
-Fish omelet is a thing btw, I was just searching for breakfast meals with fish in them 'cause Jes and Beau are by the ocean so. Yeah.  
-I wonder why Jes might not feel like she fills out her mantle anymore.  
-Beau's still awkward when someone says "i love you". Well, in certain contexts, anyway.  
-The 'Find the Path' spell Jester used is compared to a wizard spell 'cause I remembered when she hung out with Essek and Caleb a while back and was lowkey jealous about the intricacies of spells. But she's still cooler.  
-Oh yeah it's beneath the tower hee hee


	23. night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO A LOT HAPPENED IN THE REAL WORLD SINCE THE LAST TIME I UPDATED HUH.
> 
> Ch. 22 Summary: The duo get ready for Traveler-con, making breakfast, and finding that the gathering would take place beneath the Lighthouse of the Wildmother.

With their hoods up, Jester and Beau entered a hidden door in the side of the lighthouse. 

The door led into a dim hallway that spiraled deeper into the earth, lit with small sconces lining the walls. Dull voices echoed through the corridor, and before they could reach the end of its spiral, Beau took Jester’s hand.

“You’ll be great.” she whispered.

Jester looked up, standing from a lower step.

“I know. Just...stay with me?”

The ex-monk smiled. “Of course.”

Jester let Beau join her at her side, linking arms and continuing their path. The corridor widened into an antechamber, where a handful of people resided, some with their hoods up, and some without. 

“Boo!” a voice whisper-shouted, sending Beau into a backhand - halted at the last second by Jester’s incredibly strong grip.

“What the fuck, man?” Beau spat.

The figure next to them pulled his hood down, revealing a wrinkled and furred face. A gnoll, old and tired, hunched forward to meet their eye level.

Jester felt Beau tense in her arms.

“I scared your girlfriend real good, huh?” he chuckled, patting Beau’s shoulder.

Jester snorted. “Uh, yeah! Oh my gosh, Beau, you got scared of an old guy?”

The gnoll’s face twisted in offense.

“A handsome gnoll, for his age.” Jester corrected.

“Sorry. The last time I met a Gnoll...it didn’t end too well for either of us.” Beau mumbled.

“Ah, no worries. I just figured I would do a little prank while I was here to curry favor with the Traveler, eh?” he nudged his elbows. “Anyway, I’m Kovak.”

“I’m Jester! And this is my g- _ friend _ , Beau. If you didn’t know, I’m super important to the Traveler, I was his first worshipper so I’m basically his right hand.”

At the word friend, a flash of doubt washed over Kovak’s face, before returning to a steadily skeptical expression about Jester’s status.

“His right hand, huh? Then what about your friend?”

Beau leaned forward between the two. “I’m technically not a worshipper, but I follow Jester. Wherever she goes, I go.”

A hearty laugh came from the Gnoll, drawing the eyes of other worshippers.

“That’s nice of you.” Kovak put forward a shaky hand, giving the duo a thumbs up. “Well, I best be on my way, I need to prank some other folks around here.”

Walking away and deeper into the meeting area, Beau glanced at Jester, whose arm was still linked in her own.

“You okay, Jes?”

“Yeah, I just didn’t realize there would be people as devoted to the Traveler as I was. But I’m still the coolest one here, so it doesn’t matter.” Jester stated, leaning closer to Beau’s arm.

Beau let a few moments of quiet observance happen before turning back.

“Hey, what did you mean when you said girlfriend?”

Jester froze for a moment. “I didn’t say girlfriend.”

“Well, no, but you were about to.” Beau blurted.

“It was just an accident.” Jester saw her friend’s face fall. “But if we were girlfriends or something I wouldn’t think that was bad or anything, we just aren’t girlfriends now so I didn’t want him to think the wrong thing. I mean you could find a super cool girlfriend anyway so I don’t-”

“Jes. I...” Beau started.

“Yeah?”

“Nevermind. I’ll just tell you later. You should just focus on telling these other people that they’re not as cool as you are. I mean, who else can cast like you can?”

“Probably not a lot of people here.” Jester admitted.

“Exactly. And, if you want, we can go prank some people better than Kovak did.” Beau offered, grinning at her friend.

Jester could tell there was something else on Beau’s mind, and a part of her hoped it was about the girlfriend comment. But, she knew Beau was just thinking about the convention. 

“Right.” Jester whispered.

.

.

.

It didn’t take long for the duo to realize that some time would need to pass before the main attraction arrived. Jester settled for surface-level small talk, where she bragged as much as possible about how much better she was as a worshipper than everyone else. Of course, she always stopped short of divulging personal details about how he helped her through lonelier times during her childhood, but she never hesitated to tell them about her best prank to date.

“So as my momma was out, I snuck into the room they were in. I noticed that Lord Sharpe was standing on the balcony, giving out middle fingers to other guys who were waiting on my momma’s schedule to free up. I snuck closer and,” Jester paused just long enough to glance back at Beau and bare her teeth in a grin. “I pulled down his pants! I’m pretty sure all of Nicodranas could see how small his dick was. It was like the size of my pinky.”

At the description, Beau winced and faked a gag while the small cohort they gathered - including Kovak - rose up in laughter. 

After Jester glossed over the details of her exile, she kept her attention fixed on the company she currently was with, while sneaking her hand in Beau’s. She was always comfortable talking to people about her pranks and jokes, but it was nice to know Beau was there through touch.

Beau rested her chin on Jester’s shoulder, laughing when the others laughed, but not really paying attention to the story being told. She already knew it inside and out, and she knew more than what these people could ever hope to. Jester leaned back and signaled that it was time for the two of them to keep moving on from this group.

The Tiefling of the hour hopped from conversation to conversation, and in time, Beau noticed that none of the hooded people ever approached them. In fact, they seemed to avoid the duo. Beau’s eyes narrowed in an attempt to catch a glimpse of any of their faces, but shadows cast by their hoods stopped her from seeing them.

Beau felt a pat on her pocket. Whipping around, Beau attempted to stop whoever did so. All her fists found were empty air. 

“Beau?”

“Sorry, I just thought I felt something.”

Jester nodded. “Do you want to take a break? I’m pretty tired talking to everyone, and I wanna figure out when the Traveller’s coming.”

Following Jester’s lead, the two found an alcove carved into a part of the cavern that curved, blocking all line of sight to them.

“Jes, why are we... _ here? _ ” Beau asked, trying to glance around the corner and into the main cavern.

“You’ve been really weird all night.”

“What?”

Jester placed her hands on her hips, whispering, “You’re like, barely talking to people, and when you hold my hand, it feels like I’m losing circulation there.”

“I didn’t realize.” Beau sighed, pulling down her hood all the way. “I think I’m just a bit skeptical still, is all. I trust you, but I don’t know if I trust the Traveller.”

“Well, you’ve been really weird since we’ve talked to Kovak.”

“Jester, if this is about the girlfriend comment I-”

The Tiefling rolled her eyes and gripped Beau’s collar, tugging her toward her. Jester’s eyes locked briefly with her crush’s, before shutting. Jester’s lips touched Beau’s, and they were...kissing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hee hee. BUT PLEASE STAY SAFE Y'ALL. okay all caps is too aggressive. stay safe y'all, wash your hands, and while we're in a cr drought, just don't forget to love each other.
> 
> Detail Notes:  
-Of course Kovak was gonna show up. i mean, c'mon.  
-oh yeah jester Did That.
> 
> As always, comment, share, do all that snazzy stuff if ya wanna but you don't have to. see you in two weeks!


	24. escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo so. irl just got exponentially worse in a matter of *checks watch* two weeks. stay safe y'all, and stay inside!
> 
> Ch. 23 Summary: Jester and Beau enter Travelercon, meeting new faces, such as Kovak, and mingling. An awkward slip of the tongue knocks both women off their game, even if only temporary. Jester shares her stories with the worshippers of the Traveler, bragging about her right-hand status, while Beau half-listened. Beau felt a pat on her side, but before she could find out what it was, Jester pulled the two of them aside into an alcove, pulling her friend into a kiss.

That evening was still clear in Jester’s mind.

_ She laughed in pure glee as she heard Sharpe bang his fists on the door, his panicked face barely visible through the obscured glass. _

_ “You little shit, how dare you?” he slammed a fist against the door again. “I don’t care about who you are, you will  _ pay _ for this. If I had it my way,” _

_ Jester’s once excited energy faded as his words gained more and more venom. The more he rambled about what he’d do, the less confident she was that the door was going to hold. She bit her lip and backed away from the balcony wall and towards the entrance of her mother’s room. _

_ A firm hand held her shoulder. _

_ “Jester?” her mother whispered. “What are you doing here?” _

_ “Momma I’m sorry I-” _

_ The Ruby of the Sea raised her hand and gently ushered her daughter into her hidden room.  _

_ Jester pulled her green hood up as she shut her door, pressing her ear against the wall that separated her room from her mother’s. _

_ “Lord Sharpe.” _

_ “Ms. Lavorre, you must punish whoever that was, she-” _

_ “What will you do if I don’t?” _

_ “I’ll-” _

_ A normally gentle voice steeled into a terrifying threat. “Do nothing. You stay away from her.” _

_ “That’s ridiculous! I can’t just be embarrassed like this, I paid for your service and I expect that-” _

_ “Well, you no longer have my service, Sharpe. I run this establishment. I provide my services to those I wish. You are not entitled to my body, nor my time. Stay away from her, and stay away from me.” Jester heard her mother’s voice lower. “Do I make myself clear?” _

_ “I-” _

_ “I did. Now go.” _

_ Jester backed away from the wall and into an embrace. _

_ “That felt like a really bad idea.” she murmured. _

_ The Traveler pat her head. “It wasn’t, dear. You were amazing, and if I’m being honest, that brought a genuine tear to my eye.” _

_ “But what if my momma gets in trouble…” Jester trailed, looking into the hooded darkness of the Traveller’s face. _

_ “She won’t. I can promise you that.” _

_ “Did you know that was going to happen?” Jester questioned, looking for any expression in her friend. _

_ “...No, I didn’t.” he admitted. _

_ Jester took time to process how he sounded. His face, obscured by the darkness, gave nothing away. She didn’t want to believe it, but she felt like he lied. He was super powerful, how could he not know the future? _

_ Looking back once more, the familiar green cloak was gone. In its place was her mother, standing in the doorway before kneeling down. _

_ “My Little Sapphire, are you okay?” Marion fussed, brushing back Jester’s bangs. _

_ “He didn’t hurt me...what happened?” _

_ “I denied him service going forward.” the Ruby sighed. “However, I fear for your safety. I don’t want to say it, but it may be time for your own adventure.” _

_ Jester looked into her mother’s eyes. There was a hint of faux-happiness: like she was excited for her to leave a cooped lifestyle, yet Jester could see that there was just...sadness there. Her eyes, usually deep red and focused, were blurry from tears. Her mother was scared of letting her go. _

_ “I’m sorry momma.” Jester choked, unrealized tears now falling onto her hands. _

_ “It’s okay Jester.” Marion spoke, pressing her forehead against her daughter’s. _

_ . _

_ . _

_ . _

_ _ Jester pulled back to find Beau dumbfounded. 

“Oh my god. I’m sorry I should’ve asked-”

Beau put a hand up and smiled. “It’s alright. Just...ask in the future.”

A beat of silence passed. Then another. Soon the duo were inches apart from each other, unable to make eye contact. Jester chuckled, meeting Beau’s gaze.

“Well...can I kiss you again?”

The ex-monk didn’t look like she believed this was happening. “Yeah-yeah of course.”

Both Jester and Beau couldn’t wipe the grin off their faces as they leaned into another kiss. 

Jester didn’t realize that the books she’d abandoned were (almost) completely wrong about first kisses. She was fumbling through it, and she had to rely on Beau to stop them from completely losing air. But they were right about one thing: it was  _ magical _ .

Pulling away, Jester found Beau’s eyes, dilated.

“Holy shit.” Beau whispered.

“Yeah.” Jester chuckled.

“So, how long?”

Jester smiled. “I think since I’ve met you.”

“Same here.” Beau murmured, rubbing the back of her neck.

They shared a glance again before looking away, flustered. Jester felt relieved that the feeling was mutual, but she had no idea what would happen from here. Were they really going to settle down in Nicodranas? Were they really just a few jobs away from that reality? What did this-

“We are Expositors from the Cobalt Soul.” an eerily familiar voice yelled. “You all are hereby notified of your illegal activity and the consequences that follow. For defacing of the religious and imperial property of the Dwendalian Empire, you all will be sent to prison for a period of time at the discretion of the king himself.”

Jester and Beau peeked from around the corner to find many of the worshippers murmuring beneath their breaths in anxious fear, and the latter cursed beneath her breath.

“Of fuckin’ course they were Expositors.” 

“We can’t just let them get arrested like that they did nothing wrong-”

Beau groaned, “I know that, but these are monks, Jes. They’ve been at this for a lot longer than I have and I don’t know if anyone out there is willing to help us out...or are even capable of doing so.”

“Beau.” Jester began, an edge of focused venom dripping from the name. “I don’t know why the Traveller hasn’t shown up. I don’t know why your old co-workers are here. But I know that you promised to stay with me, and I’m asking for you to be here with me. Like the circus.”

The ex-monk’s muscles tensed beneath Jester’s touch. 

“Fine.” 

“Really?”

“What-yes, really. Come on, Jes.” Beau grinned. “I’ve finally seen you get angry at me for a second time. Let’s do this.”

Jester tried to process her...girlfriend’s thought process.  _ Oh my god, were they girlfriends? _

“Right.” Jester stated, grabbing Beau’s hand and leading them back into the main cavern, facing five Expositors, one of which was Dairon.

Beau’s mentor looked at the duo. They muttered, “You got too close.”

“Fuck you.” Beau spat, letting go of Jester’s hand and readying herself.

Jester and Beau nodded at each other, launching themselves at separate monks. 

Jester carved divine symbols into the air, finding no trace of the Traveller in them. Brushing off the bizarre change, she created a (frankly terrifying) lollipop, jagged sugar crystals whirring around its circumference with a speed comparable to a watermill under a gushing waterfall. 

Cocking a brow, the Tiefling sent the lollipop into her monk’s chest, tearing open his shirt and the body beneath it, before arcs of lightning hopped from point to point in her arm and snapped to the wound, lighting him up in various spots with a dull pink hue.

“Beau!” Jester yelled out, glancing at her girlfriend.

“Got it!” Beau responded, chucking two shurikens the monk’s direction, striking where the lollipop was seconds before.

Beau turned to the monk in front of her, a stout dwarf. Snorting, she sent a half-hearted kick in his head’s direction, funneling ki into her foot and sending him backward, before he locked up. Giving him her signature smirk, Beau backhanded him, his stiffened feet sliding back.

“Jes, I think you got this.” the ex-monk remarked, walking away from him.

The Tiefling in question smiled, running the lollipop into his shoulder and sketching hot-pink symbols into the air, setting the dwarf alight until he passed out. From the heat or the pain, Jester wasn’t sure, but she didn’t really care. 

Moving to Beau’s side, Jester surveyed the rest of the cavern. Dairon and the two remaining monks weren’t fast enough to close the distance, and the worshippers of the Traveller gathered around in pure fascination. They were even cheering for the two.

Beau slid into a half-elf’s knee before driving her fist into the monk’s stomach and forcing her to keel over. She then grabbed her by the ear and pulled her down into her own knee, winked, then sent a punishing blow to her temple, knocking the half-elf unconscious.

Jester cocked her head at her monk, a human man with a beard. Well, a poor excuse for one. Gagging to herself, Jester waved her left hand, the lollipop following the motion and cutting into his arm and leg. Sighing, she slapped him with the back of her other hand, sending waves of pink necrotic energy into his flesh. It was like when she play-fought with Beau at the bar, but she was  _ really  _ out to hurt someone this time. Boils grew from the point of contact, bursting with blood. He stumbled forward, falling onto the ground and coughing up blood.

“I can respect you two for one thing,” Dairon muttered. “you weren’t going for kills.”

Beau wiped off her knuckles and stood at Jester’s side.

“I thought you were done with us.” Jester spat, curling her knuckles into a fist as the lollipop whirred behind her.

“No need to be angry. I’m just doing my job.” Dairon responded, glancing at the two.

“Leave them, and the Traveller alone.” Beau warned, trying to fight a prideful smile as the Traveller’s worshippers gathered behind herself and Jester.

Dairon rolled their head, dropping their cloak as ten more monks entered the cavern, armed with bo staffs and blades. Gesturing, the monks flooded the room, focusing on the others in the cavern. Dairon kept a focus on Beau and Jester, though their eyes were focused on the latter. Beau did the same, before doing a double-take. Dairon’s eyes didn’t look right. 

The former mentor rushed to Jester, sending blow after blow into the cleric, bloodying her in the blink of an eye. With the last knuckle, they flicked her temple and locked Jester in place, turning to Beau with a steely resolution in their eyes. But it wasn’t Dairon.

Beau, seeing red with tears in her eyes rushed forward, normally precise strikes devolving into long-forgotten haymakers and bar room blitzes. Strike, after strike, after strike, she hit Dairon. They took it with no worry, and by the fourth strike, Beau was sloppy enough to miss and be punished for it by her former mentor.

“You grew too close.”

“Don’t have to rub it in-” Beau began, realizing that she was paralyzed.

The effect wore off, but Beau’s reactions, while attempted, were futile in trying to counter Dairon’s incessant strikes on a now fully-conscious Jester, whose spells now fell short, and whose lollipop faded.

In seconds, Jester was on the floor, concussed and bleeding. Beau could barely process what she bore witness to. Beau attacked again, and again, and again, and again. She missed. And was punished for it.

With Dairon’s focus no longer diverted, they did what Beau attempted, yet with much higher precision and effectiveness. Beau was nearly as bloody as her girlfriend.

Wiping blood from her mouth, Beau steadied herself, trying to breathe in and out. Trying to think back to the beachside and find peace. Trying to think of a future with Jester and fighting for it with tooth and nail. Beau struck with lightning speed, this time hitting Dairon in the temple over and over again, driving her former mentor back. 

“Fuck if I grew close.” Beau spat, blood dribbling down her chin. “This isn’t you, and we both know this isn’t the Cobalt Soul. Serving an empire? You guys aren’t Vollstreckers.”

Dairon’s head tilted. “That’s irrelevant. You failed your mission for what, a Tiefling girl that unquestioningly follows a god whose done no good?”

“You think she doesn’t question anything? Gods, you shouldn’t even be an Expositor. You shouldn’t have even tried to make me an Expositor.”

“Yes, I should have left you in that cell to rot.”

Beau chuckled. “We would’ve found a way out.”

The two traded blows, and from what Beau could see, she was running out of energy while Dairon could keep going with ease. Glancing into the crowd, she found Kovak, who, while preoccupied with a monk, was tearing his blue vestments to shreds. 

The two met gazes, and Beau pleaded with him silently. He nodded his head and lunged toward Dairon, keeping them busy. Beau didn’t understand how he was so nimble for his age, but she didn’t question it.

Kneeling down, Beau brushed Jester’s bangs out of the way. The breath had left her body, and she was starting to grow cold. A part of her didn’t want to think of it, but this was probably a corpse in her hands.

“Jes-Jester.” Beau whispered. “I don’t know how to bring you back but I know it's possible. I can’t give you anything right now, but I’ve promised to follow you. Gods, I’m in love with you, Jester Lavorre. You’re amazing and you’re the bit of chaos that’s good in everyone’s life. You’re basically a god, you know that? I mean, once we sit down and talk about it I’ll explain but - fuck, I really want to live in a house with you. I want to grow old with you.”

Beau smiled through her own tears, pressing an unsteady kiss onto Jester’s forehead.

“I love you.” Beau repeated, pulling Jester’s body into a tight embrace and shutting her thoughts out from the blood being spilled around her.

The body in her hands tensed.

Pulling back, Beau looked into Jester’s eyes, glazed over with pink energy.

“I love you too, Beau.” Jester whispered, as a streak of white hair spread into a section of her bangs, and a door appeared behind Beau.

Shoving the both of them through it, Jester stumbled onto the sand-covered pavement that surrounded the lighthouse.

“Fuck.” Beau said. A part of her was in disbelief.

“I don’t know how I’m alive.” Jester whispered.

“Me neither. Jes,” Beau started, turning her girlfriend’s head to face her. “you’re amazing, and I love you. But we gotta get out of here.”

The pink glaze over Jester’s eyes faded. “Yeah.”

Jester knew they wouldn’t have lasted in that chamber for another minute. But glancing back, she couldn’t help the sinking in her gut and the shallowing of her breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyo, things go wild check. no but really, all we have after this is an epilogue, and to be honest, it's been a wild ride. a few days ago this week, insta showed me a story of when i was planning out this fic for the first time. a whole YEAR ago was when i started this. i'll save my thank you speech for next chapter, but thank you for sticking with me.
> 
> Chapter Details:  
-If Jes talked about her prank on Lord Sharpe, why not give y'all an insight about what really happened? (and what Beau knows)  
-Marion takes no shit.   
-As always, consent is important y'all  
-Oh my god they were girlfriends  
-I based the combat descriptions on how d&d combat goes, though I did alter some rules (Jes used spiritual weapon, guiding bolt, and inflict wounds while Beau used her shuriken, fists, and ofc, stunning strike)  
-Dairon and Beau's conflict on authority and Beau noticing things about them  
-Beau being desperate in her fighting style, reverting to less tactful means because her time with Jes has been the best time in her life. Like ever.  
-Bar room blitz was a reference to the one-shot  
-Rez rituals, based loosely on how Matt did it in campaign 1.   
-Beau's remark about Jes being basically a god, also I'd implore you to note how Jester felt at the very beginning of the fight, and the coloration of her attacks.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, and uh, share, comment if you wanna, but I can't fore you. See you in two weeks!


	25. epilogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Wow. A little over a year since I've originally thought up/written the plans for this fic,,,and,,,the epilogue is here. 
> 
> Ch. 24 Summary: Jester and Beau part from their kiss, only to find out that the Cobalt Soul had infiltrated Traveller-con. Fighting ensues, with Beau and Dairon having pointed words at each other before Jester falls, only to be resurrected by Beau's words. In the chaos, the two are able to escape.

Stumbling into their room at the Lavish Chateau, Jester and Beau sat at the foot of their bed, breathless.

“What are we gonna do?” Beau murmured, holding the broken bones she sustained in place.

Kissing the ex-monk on the temple, Jester cast some healing spells beneath her breath, whispering, “I don’t know.”

“What happened to you?” a voice asked, and before the two was the Traveler.

“Where were you?” Jester asked in response, though her voice was on the edge of breaking.

“I was...busy.” at his friend’s indignant look, he lowered his hood. “I don’t know what happened. I planned to come, I promise I did, Jester. But something changed.”

The once faceless god Jester worshipped was tangible. His dark hood gave way to a pale elf with fiery red hair and glimmering green eyes. A scar broke his perfect visage, still healing.

Beau’s gruff voice cut through the silence. “The fuck?”

“I don’t know what exactly happened-look, I am sorry about our gathering, I really am but if I’m being frank a part of me is glad it happened. Look-” the Traveler confessed.

“What?” the word fell out of Jester’s mouth without thought.

“Jester, I am an archfey, and my name is Artagan. However, I am not a god - well, at least not until you started to believe in me.” he paused. “Others followed me too, yet with that attack by your people-”

“Those aren’t her people.” Jester spat.

A sigh. “Yet, with that attack by the Cobalt Soul, I feel less responsibility on my shoulders, and my power diminishing. Please, Jester. I need your help to figure out what happened, and how I got this scar.”

Only silence came from Jester for the moments after.

“Jester?” Artagan whispered.

“How can you not be a god? How can you...how could you not have seen this coming? How could you be glad this happened?”

“I’m fallible, I’m sorry.”

“No. I’m not helping you. Not now.” Jester stated, a familiar venom dripping from her words.

Artagan seemed shocked. 

A silence flooded the room, choking out any air from any of the three within it. Beau could only sit and watch her girlfriend, her own body locked in on the radiating anger from Jester. On the other hand, Jester felt her chest and throat tighten, and the familiar feeling of tears were threatening to come. She still held her ground and grit her teeth, watching for any reaction from her god.

Yet, Artagan gave a nod and pulled up his hood, limping his way out of their room.

Jester leaned onto Beau’s shoulder.

“Did that just happen?” 

Beau sighed, “Yes, I think it did.”

.

.

.

It was only an hour after Artagan’s visit but the tension didn’t leave the room. Jester’s wounds had shut for the most part, and the rest of her spells were able to do the same for Beau. 

The two lay on their bed, facing each other.

Jester looked at the woman she’d spent an eternity with and would want to spend another with. She was home to dull blue eyes and a fixed expression - one of analyzation and fondness. She could tell there were a thousand thoughts a second running through her head.

Beau saw the woman she’d spent too little time with and would sacrifice almost anything to spend one more second with. She held vibrant and violet eyes with nothing but hope in everything she did. She saw a plan in her eyes.

“What’s on your mind?” Beau whispered, brushing aside Jester’s hair, loose without its bun.

“I...I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“So much as happened, Beau. I’m kind of tired of being a worshipper of the Traveller.” 

“Okay,” Beau began. “then what would you do? What would you do if you weren’t a worshipper of the Traveller?”

Jester laughed. “I would kiss you. I would make drawings of you until we grow old and die...I mean, that’s ridiculous. But, I wish.”

“I’d like that too. I just wanna be with you, no Cobalt Soul, no Traveller. Just us.”

“Then let’s run away.” Jester stated. “Let’s run away, we don’t have to deal with any of this, Beau.”

“What about your mom?”

“I-” Jester sighed.

Beau waited patiently, searching for any hints of Jester’s thoughts.

“You’re right.” Jester bit her lip. “But what can we do about it? I don’t know if I trust him anymore. And I want to help those people but we’re just a Human and a Tiefling.”

Beau looked into Jester’s eyes, nodding in silent understanding. She kissed her forehead and pulled back, watching Jester’s eyes fall into more contemplation. She still had plans, Beau could see that clearly.

“What did you mean when you said I was a god?” Jester blurted.

“You...heard that?”

“Of course I did.”

“Didn’t you see yourself? You were glowing all pink.” Beau said.

“No, that’s normal, Beau.”

The ex-monk rolled her eyes. “I’ve never seen your eyes turn pink. The Trav-Artagan didn’t seem like he was around to help you either. During the fight, or when you came back to life, or when you got us out of there.”

“No...I was probably just feeling pink.”

“Sure.” Beau snorted out, only to be playfully smacked on the shoulder by Jester. 

“I’m not a god, Beau.”

“Jes,” the ex-monk sat up in bed. “If an elf could turn into a god, what’s stopping you from doing the same?”

“Who would even believe in me?”

“Yourself? Me?” Beau sputtered.

“That’s dumb.” Jester mumbled, tying up her hair and leaving their bed.

“What part of that is dumb, Jes?” Beau wrapped her arms around Jester. “You’re amazing. You turned a normal person into a god, I mean, I don’t think it’s impossible.”

Jester turned around to press a kiss on Beau’s nose. “We can think about that later. For now, we just have to think about what we have to do.”

“Right. I don’t think we can take the Cobalt Soul on right now, or in the near future-” Beau began.

“Maybe we shouldn’t stay with my momma for now.” Jester stated, pulling back and entering her closet.

Beau watched as her girlfriend picked out a dress here and there, eyes focused. She seemed to put a wall up, and it was all too familiar to Beau.

“Jes.”

“Yeah?”

“We don’t have to leave right this second.” Beau ran a hand through her hair, continuing, “Spend some time with your mom, I’ll pack your stuff.”

With a solemn smile on her face, Jester kissed Beau’s cheek and exited her room and knocked on her mother’s door. Pressing her ear against the worn wood, she could hear silence. If anything, she was glad her mother had no clients right now.

.

.

.

The door swung open. “Jester?”

“Hi momma.” 

“What’s wrong? Come in.”

Wrapped in her mother’s embrace, Jester retold the evening’s events. She felt too tired to give it her usual energy. Marion listened like she always did, running her hands through Jester’s hair and nodding in silence. Jester liked the comfort of being near her mom, though it reminded her that she would have to leave it behind soon.

“I have to go again, momma.” Jester whispered.

Marion’s breath held still for a moment. “I understand.”

“I wish I didn’t have to leave so soon-”

“My Sapphire. This has been the happiest I’ve felt since before you left Nicodranas. I’m happy you finally found your love too.” Marion chuckled, booping her daughter’s nose. “I kept seeing you both dancing around each other so much I wondered if either of you would ever spit it out.”

“Yeah, we were scared of ruining our friendship. B-But...will you be okay here? I wish my dad could be with you so you weren’t all alone.” Jester huffed.

“It’s alright, sometimes your friend, Fjord, visits. He’s absolutely horrible at-”

“Oh my gosh, don’t tell me he’s tried to get laid with you.”

A genuinely loud laugh came from Marion. “Gods no, he just wanted to get out into the world more. I was going to say that he’s horrible at talking with other sailors, despite him being one.”

“Maybe he’s been worshipping the Wildmother for too long.” Jester joked, though in her words she reminded herself about Artagan once more.

“Are you still a worshipper of the Traveller, or Artagan, as he calls himself?” Marion asked.

“I don’t know. Beau’s been saying that I’m a god since I can cast without really praying to him anymore so maybe I’m not? I don’t know, I don’t want to think about it.”

“Okay,” Marion pressed a kiss on Jester’s head. 

Jester let herself relax in her mother’s shoulders, occasionally speaking up and asking questions about love and the future. Her mother held the answers, but they were only limited to the scope of the Lavish Chateau. Jester understood, and she silently vowed to herself that she would help her mom see the world, and that she would come back with news from her father. If there was one thing she could at least somewhat control, it was trying to find her mother’s happiness again. She hoped she could, anyway.

From the various windows was an orange glow. The sun was rising.

“Well, I think it’s time for you to go on your adventure again.” Marion whispered.

Looking into her mother’s eyes, Jester found comfort, but the old look of weariness and sadness still lingered. 

That dawn, Jester took her time leaving her mother’s room, making sure to look over every detail, every bottle of perfume or powder that was placed on a table or mat. Before opening her mother’s door, she spotted the balcony that had started her on her path. Shutting her eyes, she and her mother descended the steps into the main area of the building, where Beau awaited with various sacks. Asleep.

“Stay safe, my Sapphire.” Marion whispered, kissing Jester on her forehead.

While Jester hopped onto Haystack, a hand gripped Beau’s arm as she started to join her girlfriend.

“Keep her safe, or I  _ swear _ you will know no  _ end _ to pain.” Marion said. “I’m sorry I-”

“It’s alright. But Jester’s a powerful woman. She can handle herself.”

“I...I know. Good luck on your journey together.” Marion whispered, handing Beau a ring.

Awkwardly chuckling and looking the ring over, Beau hopped onto Haystack and sat behind Jester, resting her chin on the Tiefling’s shoulder.

“Where to, Jes?”

“The Gentleman is a pretty shady guy, right?” at Beau’s nod, Jester’s expression relaxed into a smile. “Well, we can probably find more out about what happened to the Cobalt Soul.”

“...Will you be okay, Jes?”

“Of course, Beau! I have you.” Jester stated, turning around to kiss Beau on the lips briefly before returning her attention to the road.

“I promise you we’re going to live by the beach in Nicodranas one day.”

“I know, Beau.”

Beau smiled and rested her face into the crook of Jester’s neck. “Love you, Jes.”

“I love you too, Beau.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still kinda reeling over the fact that I'm done with this fic y'all.
> 
> Epilogue Details:  
-Jester, after several challenges to her beliefs and terrifying events, is rightfully angry at a god. There's been a seed of doubt in her, ever since she had to leave Nicodranas for the first time, yet it's built up over time with her time with Beau, Fjord, etc.  
-Jester and Beau see the time they've spent together very differently. Jester sees it as an eternity (in a good way) because she's seen so much and been so many places with Beau compared to the Lavish Chateau. She wants to spend another eternity with her, even settling down with her on the beach. On the other hand, Beau feels like her time with Jester has been seconds because she always feels like the good in her life will slip through her hands - it's why she's so ready to do anything just to make sure she spends one more second with Jester.  
-If you recall, the book that I described at the VERY beginning of this fic regarding a knight and a noble is what I loosely modeled this fic after. Originally, I was going to say that both the knight and the noble were running from their pasts, directly paralleling these two.   
-Jester possibly being/becoming a god is something I purposely left open-ended, though the way I'm describing it leaves a possibility, for one thing, more than the other.  
-Jester's anchor point (other than Beau) has always been her mother. And she doesn't really want to leave her behind again, and it stings a little extra because both times she's left has been because of the Traveller.  
-Oh Fjord.  
-Marion's threat to Beau is a reference to that one time the Nein visited Marion and she threatened that if anything happened to Jester, she would call every man, woman, and in-between to hunt the Nein down.
> 
> As you may have noticed, this isn't necessarily a complete story - the issue of the Traveller and the Cobalt Soul still remain. In fact, I left it open just in case I want to create a sequel of sorts to this. Right now, I have no plans of doing so, but take comfort in knowing that these two still live on in this story beyond this epilogue.
> 
> But I have to really thank you all that have stuck with this fic and with me for so long, despite the late uploads, and the semi-weekly upload schedule I created for the last five chapters. However, I really do appreciate when you comment, 'cause it gives me a little boost. Special shout-out to kopycat_101 for binging??? this fic??? and then commenting a lot?? It means a lot to me and I really thank you for doing it.
> 
> Anyway. I don't have any plans for a full-length fic right now, however, I will be posting one-shots here and there. Again, thank you for staying with me. Stay safe, wash your hands, and...is it Thursday yet (T^T)?


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